UNCF/Mellon Programs Unites Faculty, Celebrates Scholarship During 2025 Annual Conference

Faculty Across the Nation Convene for Annual Conference to Emphasize the Importance of Diverse Perspectives in the Academy

During the UNCF/Mellon Programs 2025 Annual Programs Conference, up to 100 members joined together for the Opening Plenary and Reception. The reception featured a welcome by UNCF/Mellon Programs Director and Spelman College Associate Professor of Sociology Dr. Cynthia Neal Spence, C’78, followed by a fireside chat with Dr. Beverly Guy Sheftall, C’66, UNCF/Mellon advisory board member and Anna Julia Cooper professor of women’s studies at Spelman.

Funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation in 1989, the UNCF/Mellon Programs support UNCF undergraduates interested in pursuing a Ph.D. and becoming faculty members and offer a range of career development opportunities for faculty teaching within the UNCF consortium. During the annual conference, program members gathered under the theme ‘Scholars Transforming the Academy: Focusing on What MATTERS in Times Like These’ to celebrate diverse perspectives, encourage interdisciplinary problem-solving and critical analysis, and highlight the importance of community building.

In times like these, we will continue to encourage mentorship of our students so they can be prepared to enter graduate school and pursue a Ph.D. We will not be moved… We will continue doing the work,” said Dr. Spence, who was hired by the Andrew Mellon Foundation to lead the Programs over 30 years ago. “We are here for the next day and a half to focus on: What is the work that we do? How do we continue to do this work? How do we work together as a community? We are faculty from different institutions, but this moment in our nation’s history calls for us to operate as a unit. It is important for us to be in community.” 

As part of the reception, the program members celebrated 170 UNCF/Mellon Ph.D. graduates, who serve with distinction at various types of higher education institutions.

“Through their scholarship, leadership, and mentorship, [the recent UNCF/Mellon Ph.D. graduates] uphold the value of using education to document and interrogate the production of knowledge and to uplift and engage communities in this project we call democracy,” said Dr. Spence.

Following the welcome, Georgia State University Professor Dr. Stephanie Evans engaged Dr. Guy Sheftall in an insightful conversation celebrating her legacy and new book, “Black! Feminist! Free!” The two talked about Dr. Guy Sheftall’s scholarly journey.

“I was committed to making sure that other HBCUs had some kind of commitment to women’s and gender studies, and later sexuality studies. That’s been a challenge,” said Dr. Guy Sheftall, founding director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center at Spelman. She noted that to this day, Spelman is one of the only HBCU to have a major in women’s studies, with a few HBCUs having a minor in the subject. “You must have collaborators. You can’t do this work by yourself. You must have people looking out for you, and I always had that.”

The Opening Plenary culminated in a conference reception featuring performances from the Spelman College Jazz Ensemble.