Spelman College Honors Faculty Excellence at 2025 Opening Convocation

Faculty Honored for Their Dedication to Scholarship, Teaching and Mentoring

Spelman College celebrated the extraordinary achievements of its faculty during the 2025 Opening Convocation ceremony on August 21, 2025, recognizing their unwavering commitment to academic excellence, innovative scholarship, and transformative mentoring that continues to elevate the College's mission of empowering Black women leaders.

The ceremony, held in Sisters Chapel, brought together students, faculty, staff, and stakeholders to formally launch the 2025-2026 academic year while honoring faculty members who exemplify Spelman's commitment to excellence.

Faculty Promotions and Tenure

Rosalind "Roz" Brewer, C'84, interim president and board chair emerita, and Mark Lee, Ph.D., senior vice president of Academic Affairs, congratulated faculty members who achieved significant career milestones through tenure and promotion.

"The award of tenure is a noteworthy accomplishment in the academy, and a milestone in the life of four faculty members, earned by years of contributions to the teaching, scholarship, and service goals of the College," said Dr. Lee.

Hyunjung Chung, Ph.D., was promoted to full professor in the music department, recognizing her sustained excellence in scholarship, teaching, and service to the College's distinguished music program.

Four exceptional faculty members were tenured and promoted to associate professor:

• Michelle Gaines, Ph.D., Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Wandeka Gayle, Ph.D., Literature, Media and Writing
• Natalie Sowell, Ph.D., Theater and Performance
• Kimberly Williams, Ph.D., Environmental Health and Sciences

Presidential Faculty Awards

The 2025 Presidential Faculty Awards recognized outstanding contributions across multiple dimensions of academic life, celebrating faculty who have made exceptional impacts in their fields and in the lives of Spelman students.

"Most days, our faculty teach their classes, produce scholarship and works of innovation, creativity, and advance our mission without fanfare. But at Opening Convocation, it is our tradition to thank and acknowledge them and to recognize a small group of them who have made outstanding contributions over the past year. We do this through the Presidential Awards for Excellence in the areas of teaching, scholarship, service, and mentoring, along with the Vulcan Company award for Teaching Excellence," shared Dr. Lee.

Excellence in Scholarship

Tenured Faculty: Moon Charania, Ph.D., associate professor in international studies and affiliate faculty in comparative women's studies, received the award for Excellence in Scholarship among tenured faculty. Dr. Charania is a feminist scholar whose research explores the psychosocial dimensions of the lives of women of color, investigating social, political and intimate issues in relation to gender and sexuality, violence and care, racism and the diasporic experience. Her work as a transnational feminist theorist spans queer of color critique and psychoanalysis. She has published two books, 11 peer-reviewed articles and six book chapters, and has been awarded 10 fellowships including the UNCF Mellon fellowship. She was also the 2024-25 Anschutz Distinguished Fellow in American Studies at Princeton University.

"I'm so grateful to receive this award and to be recognized for this kind of work – especially at a time when feminist scholarship is being eliminated left and right at the national level,” Charania said.

Pre-Tenured Faculty: Michelle Gaines, Ph.D., associate professor in chemistry and biochemistry, was honored in the pre-tenured faculty category. A faculty member since 2017, Dr. Gaines earned her Ph.D. in Materials Science and focuses her research on designing and characterizing the surface chemical properties of synthetic and natural polymer systems for developing multifunctional biomaterial substrates for regenerative medicine, cancer treatment, and personal care products. Her research is groundbreaking because it examines Black women's hair-curl patterns. She has published in high-impact journals with 11 peer-reviewed publications and one patent to her credit.

"I am embarking in a field where we're just scratching the surface on learning about the specific structural features that manifest into curly hair, which a lot of people just don't know," Dr. Gaines said.

"We're starting to uncover more truths about some very fundamental things that many of us think about every day."

Excellence in Teaching

Tenured Faculty: Kai McCormack, Ph.D., chair and professor of psychology and G-STEM (Global STEM and Multidisciplinary Studies Research Program) director, was recognized for Excellence in Teaching among tenured faculty. Dr. McCormack collaborates on international, inter-institutional science initiatives and serves as a leader in advancing global education at Spelman. Her previous recognition includes Presidential Awards for scholarship (2010) and mentoring (2019). She has taught courses in statistics, research methods, behavioral neuroscience, ethics, and primate research.

“It has always been an honor and a joy to teach at Spelman. The psychology department is deeply committed to innovations in teaching and has consistently supported my efforts to try new approaches in the classroom. The students are committed, inquisitive, and full of passion — the perfect recipe for teaching classes in psychology.”

Pre-Tenured and Non-Tenured Faculty

Suneye Holmes, M.A., C'2004, senior instructor in economics, received the award for excellence in teaching among pre-tenured and non-tenured faculty, recognizing her dedication to economic education and student success. She teaches challenging methods courses to majors, and her innovative pedagogy is interdisciplinary, combining economics and food studies.

"I'm very thankful for this recognition from my alma mater," Holmes said. "It is an honor to be celebrated at home and this accolade from the Spelman community is an embarrassment of riches. I am privileged to stand before these scholars each day and assist them on their path."

Excellence in Mentoring

Anjanette Levert, MFA, senior lecturer in Art and Visual Culture, was honored for Excellence in Mentoring. A documentary filmmaker, producer, curator, programmer and consultant, Levert formerly directed Spelman’s Documentary Filmmaking Program and was recognized as the 2022 Presidential Teaching Award recipient. She plays a significant role in supporting the College's documentary film offerings while developing innovative approaches to visual storytelling education. Many students describe her impact during COVID-19, noting that she is uplifting both in the classroom and beyond Spelman's gates.

"I want to make sure our students are prepared and make mentorship central to their education," Levert said.

"We just graduated our fifth class of documentary students and I had the wonderful experience to celebrate with students who are now working, having jobs out in this industry. The experience of seeing them thrive is why I really committed to mentoring students."

Excellence in Service

Marionette Holmes, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of economics and division chair for the arts, received the award for Excellence in Service, acknowledging her significant contributions to the College and broader academic community. She currently serves on the Sadie Collective and as an advisory board member of the Journal of Economic Perspectives. Her research focuses on the economic impact of public health interventions on communities of color, both nationally and internationally, and she formerly served on the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession board. Dr. Holmes has also been recognized by the Sloan Foundation for her work in diversifying the economics workforce and has made significant contributions through her involvement with the Center for Black Entrepreneurship.

President Brewer acknowledged the collaborative work Dr. Holmes and James Glenn, Spelman's director of investment operations, are conducting with the College's Student Managed Investment Fund to enhance student opportunities in learning finance and managing investment portfolios. The Fund operates as a student-led portfolio backed by Spelman College in partnership with BlackRock, providing comprehensive training, simulations, and active investing experience as students develop a flourishing portfolio designed to strengthen Spelman's endowment.

"I'm so grateful to come back to serve," Dr. Holmes shared. "When I was a junior at Spelman, I knew I wanted to return and serve my institution. I knew I wanted to come back to Spelman to teach, but it has also been tremendously rewarding to serve here, to meet the needs of our students, and to elevate the presence of our departments beyond the four gates."

Vulcan Materials Company Award

Sarah RudeWalker, h.D., associate professor in Literature, Media and Writing, was honored with the Vulcan Materials Company Award. Vulcan, the largest producer of construction materials in the U.S., recognizes outstanding faculty for their contributions to teaching and leadership in the field.A scholar of the rhetoric of African American social movements, Dr. RudeWalker is the author of “Revolutionary Poetics,” in which she details the specific ways that the Black Arts Movement (BAM) achieved its revolutionary goals through rhetorical poetics — examining what forms, to what audiences, and to what effect.

Dr. RudeWalker compares the synergy students and faculty create in Spelman's learning communities to a kind of music.

"I'm grateful to this institution that allows us to have the kind of relationships we do with our students that let that music happen," Dr. RudeWalker said.

"We get to have relationships as teachers and mentors, and that's what makes this community special."

A Tradition of Excellence