Four Women Who Have Stepped Down From Their Posts at Colleges and Universities

Tommie “Tonea” Stewart, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Alabama State University, retired from her position on June 1, 2019. In addition to her duties as dean, she has also served as a tenured professor and chair of the theater department. She has won numerous awards throughout her career including the New York World Festival Gold Medal Award for her narration of the National Public Radio International Series, “Remembering Slavery.” Additionally, President Barack Obama recognized her as a “Champion of Change.”

Dr. Stewart holds a bachelor’s degree in speech and theatre from Jackson State University in Mississippi and a master’s degree in theatre arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She earned a Ph.D. in theatre arts from Florida State University making her the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate from the university’s College of Theatre Arts.

Diane Windham Shaw, director of special collections and college archives at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, has been elected to emerita status by the board of trustees. She has been a member of the faculty for the past 34 years. Since 1985, she has overseen the Skillman Library’s Special Collections unit and was named college archivist in 1987. Throughout her career, she has expanded the history collections of Lafayette to include previously under-documented groups including women, African Americans, international students, and the LGBTQ community. She has curated several exhibits including A Son and His Adoptive Father: Marquis de Lafayette and George Washington, Lafayette and Slavery, and most recently, A True Friend of the Cause: Lafayette and the Antislavery Movement. 

Shaw holds a bachelor’s degree and master of librarianship degree both from Emory University in Atlanta.

Filomina C. Steady, professor and chair of the Africana studies department at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, is retiring. A symposium entitled “African(a) Feminism and Women’s Leadership in Global Context” was held at Wellesley College, honoring the lifetime of work and retirement of Dr. Steady. She joined the college’s faculty in 1997. Earlier, she taught at California State University, Sacramento, Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and Boston University.

Professor Steady is a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she majored in government. She holds a master’s degree in anthropology and African studies from Boston University and a Ph.D. in social anthropology from the University of Oxford in England.

Alfreda Horton, coordinator of the Office of Student Oriented Services at the University of Southern Mississippi, retired from the university last month. She has been on the university’s staff since 1989, working in the Division of Student Affairs.

Horton is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi.