Author Biography
Johnnella E. Butler, Spelman College
Johnnella E. Butler, Professor Comparative Women’s Studies, Spelman College, served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Spelman from 2005-2014. Prior to Spelman, Dr. Butler held appointments at the University of Washington, Seattle as Professor of American Ethnic Studies with appointments in English and Women’s Studies, and Associate Dean and Associate Provost of the Graduate School. At the UW, she prepared 25 Ph.D. students in African American and American Ethnic literary studies. Prior to the UW, Dr. Butler held faculty and administrative positions at Towson State and at Smith College and chaired African American Studies at each institution. At Smith, she became the first Black woman tenured. Dr. Butler has been awarded major faculty and curriculum development grants—totaling $2.1 M—from major foundations and the U.S. government—addressing the liberal arts curriculum; diversity and American Studies; multicultural pedagogy; and interdisciplinarity and liberal education. Her scholarship spans pedagogy, Ethnic Studies and African American literary theory, focusing on identity, experience and interdisciplinarity, relationships among democracy, diversity, and civic engagement in liberal education, and institutional change. She has delivered numerous addresses and conducted over 80 workshops at colleges and universities throughout the U.S. on interdisciplinarity and inclusivity, and has lectured abroad in France, England, and Spain. Her most recent publications are “Replacing the Cracked Mirror: The Challenge of Diversity and Inclusion” in Diversity and Democracy (Fall 2014) and “Two Steps Forward, One Step Backward: Must this Be the Future of Diversity?” in Liberal Education (Summer 2013). In March, 2015, for the AAC&U Student Success Networking Conference, Dr. Butler delivered the closing plenary talk, “Intentional Strategic Connections Among Diversity, Learning, and Student Success”, and in February, 2016, the closing plenary for the AAC&U General Education and Assessment Networking Conference, “From My Work to Our Work.” A faculty member for the UC Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education’s Executive Leadership Academy, Dr. Butler also is a faculty member for the AAC&U Institute for General Education and Assessment, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Among her awards and honors are the UW Liberal Arts Professorship and Dean’s Recognition Award, the Ethnic Studies Student Association Lifetime Achievement Award, and the UW Multicultural Alumni Partnership Distinguished Community Service Award. The Graduate Opportunities and Minority Achievement Program at the UW was recognized with the Council of Graduate School’s Peterson’s Award for Promoting an Inclusive Graduate Community. A recipient of the University of New Mexico Honors College Visiting Lectureship and the Distinguished Alumna Award, Elms College, Dr. Butler has been honored by the National Association for Ethnic Studies Charles Irby Distinguished Service Award, and In June, 2015 with the Educational Visionary Award of APACS (Association of Professional Advocates for Collegial Science, Technology Entry Programs June 2015.
