To: Wellesley Faculty and Administrative Staff
From: President Paula A. Johnson and Provost and Lia Gelin Poorvu ’56 Dean of the College Andy Shennan
Re: Appointment of Dean of Academic Affairs
Date: February 4, 2020
We are delighted to announce that Michael Jeffries, associate professor of American studies and Class of 1949 Professor in Ethics, has accepted our invitation to serve as the next dean of academic affairs, succeeding Dean Ann Velenchik who completes her service in June 2020.
Since his arrival at Wellesley in 2008, Michael has established a distinguished record as a scholar, a teacher, a public intellectual, and a faculty leader. He is the author of three books: Thug Life: Race, Gender, and the Meaning of Hip-Hop (University of Chicago Press, 2011); Paint the White House Black: Barack Obama and the Meaning of Race in America (Stanford University Press, 2013); and Behind the Laughs: Community and Inequality in Comedy (Stanford University Press, 2017). He has contributed vitally to the emergence of our American studies department and ethnic studies programs as a center of excellence at Wellesley, and his reputation as an instructor was recognized by his selection as the senior class luncheon commencement speaker in 2016 and again in 2017. Beyond our campus, Michael has been a prolific and highly respected participant in public debates, writing frequently for the Boston Globe, the New York Times Book Review, the Atlantic, and the Guardian, speaking at numerous universities and colleges across the country, and appearing regularly on public television and public radio stations. From 2015 to 2018, he served as the inaugural chair of the Presidential Commission on Ethnicity, Race, and Equity (CERE). In 2018 he was elected to the Committee on Faculty Appointments, and he is currently chair of American studies.
As we work towards the completion of the College’s strategic plan—a process in which Michael is playing a leading role, as co-chair of the Liberal Arts Working Group—we are asking new questions about the form and content of a Wellesley education and about the evolution of our curriculum and our pedagogies. Whatever plan emerges, the curriculum and curricular change will be central to its implementation. We are confident that Michael is the right person to engage the faculty in an open-minded, inclusive, and productive conversation about what constitutes an excellent liberal arts education in this time and place, for this generation of students, and for this faculty.
Over the course of the semester ahead, we will be working with Michael, Megan Núñez, and Ann to ensure that the transition in the Provost’s Office is as smooth as possible. In the meantime, we express our gratitude to Michael for accepting this appointment and to Ann for her brilliant service over the past five years.
