Montevallo, Ala. – Myron M. Beasley, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the areas of Cultural Studies, African American Studies and Women and Gender Studies at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, has been appointed the Vacca Distinguished Visiting Professorship at the University of Montevallo during the spring 2016 semester.
The Vacca Professorship is an “Eminent Scholar” Chair, the first one in public higher education in Alabama, with an endowment that exceeds one million dollars. Its primary purpose is to promote direct exchange between University of Montevallo undergraduates and eminent teacher-scholars in the liberal arts.
During his tenure as visiting professor, Beasley will apply his expertise and personal studies to fill current absences in the UM curriculum. “I hope my visit will allow both students and faculty an opportunity to expand their thoughts and provide movement in the curriculum,” Beasley stated.
Beasley has organized a visiting lecture series in conjunction with an African American literature course he is instructing this term. The lectures have included culinary historian Dr. Jessica B. Harris’s visit in February and an upcoming visit by professor Dr. Lewis Gordon on April 15.
Beasley is also instructing a cross-discipline honors seminar on cultural theory and assisting the theatre department with their spring production of Clybourne Park, which will be showing March 18-20 in Reynolds Studio Theatre.
His time at the University will also impact faculty, as he leads a colloquium that allows faculty a time to discuss critical issues, as well as reflect and engage with each other in a relaxed setting. Beasley is also working with a trans-discipline group of faculty to build a framework for an African American Studies minor to be offered in the future.
Beasley’s ethnographic research explores the intersection of cultural workers in politics, art and social change. He has conducted fieldwork in Morocco, Brazil, the U.S. and most recently Haiti.
The recipient of fellowships and grants by the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Beasley has most recently been awarded the Ruth Landes Award from the Reed Foundation for his ethnographic writing about art and cultural engagement.
Beasley’s recent curatorial projects include Patience on a Monument: Recent work by Eto Otitigbe (UT, Austin 2016) and The Ghetto Biennale (Haiti), CAAR Paris (France). His writing has appeared in several academic journals including The Journal of Poverty, Text and Performance Quarterly, Museum & Social Issues, and The Journal of Curatorial Studies and Performance Research, Gastronomica.
For more information on Dr. Beasley’s visiting professorship, please contact Kendal Stine, Honors Program Assistant, at 205-665-6501 or at sstine@montevallo.edu.
About The University of Montevallo
The University of Montevallo seeks to be unique in higher education in Alabama, by providing students from throughout the state an affordable, geographically accessible, “small college” public higher educational experience of high quality. Settled within an atmosphere of national historic beauty and offering a tradition of innovative cultural expression, we seek to provide professional programs supported by a broad base of arts and sciences that are designed for intellectual and personal growth in the pursuit of meaningful employment and responsible, informed citizenship.