Category: African American Studies

The American Academy of Religion awarded one of its highest honors to Carolyn Medine:

Medine, a University of Georgia professor in the department of religion and the Institute for African American Studies, has been selected to receive the 2013 Excellence in Teaching Award from the American Academy of Religion.

The professional society for scholarship and teaching in the field of religion, the AAR has more 10,000 members who teach in about 1,000 colleges, universities, seminaries and schools in North America and abroad. The award, announced on the AAR website, will be formally presented at the academy's annual meeting in November.

"I'm very humbled by this award," Medine said. "So many important teachers of religion have won this award that I feel honored, and a bit unworthy, to be included among them."

Medine teaches courses focused on how literature and art relate to religious experience, particularly Southern and African-American women's religious experience, within the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. She has written extensively on the work of Toni Morrison and Harper Lee.

An important honor by her peers for Dr. Medine and one that brings great distinction to the Franklin College and UGA. Congratulations to Dr. Medine for bringing great instruction to her students.

The Institute for African American Studies and Lamar Dodd School of Art present a lecture by Cameron Van Patterson, Diasporic Imagination: Race, Difference, and Memory in Contemporary Art. The lecture will be on April 5 at 5 p.m. in room S150 of the school of art, with a reception immediately following. The lecture and reception are free and the public is invited to attend.

Professor of English and African American studies Valerie Babb has been named director of the Institute for African American Studies in the Franklin College:

“The IAAS is one of UGA’s premier units for engaging in the contemporary exchange of ideas across disciplines,” said Hugh Ruppersburg, interim dean of the Franklin College. “Dr. Babb’s scholarship in American literature and culture will be a vital contribution to the intellectual history that serves as the basis for the institute.”