Five Women Faculty Members Appointed to Endowed Professorships at Williams College in Massachusetts

Elizabeth McGowan was appointed the Robert Sterling Clark Professor of Art. Professor McGowan is a graduate of Princeton University in New Jersey. At Williams she has taught courses on ancient Greek art and architecture, from the Bronze Age through the end of the Hellenistic period. Professor McGowan earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the Institute for Fine Arts at New York University.

Joy James was named the Ebenezer Fitch Professor of Humanities. She joined the faculty at Williams College in 2005 after teaching at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where she was professor of Africana studies. Her work focuses on political and feminist theory, critical race theory, and incarceration. Dr. James is the author of several books including Shadowboxing: Representations of Black Feminist Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 1999). Professor James is a graduate of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. She earned a master’s degree in international politics and a Ph.D. in political philosophy from Fordham University in New York.

Helga Druxes was appointed the Paul M. Hunn ‘555 Professor of Social Studies at Williams College. Professor Druxes has served on the college’s faculty since 1987. She is the author of Resisting Bodies: The Negotiation of Female Agency in Twentieth-Century Women’s Fiction (Wayne State University Press, 1996) and The Feminization of Dr. Faustus: Female Identity Quests from Stendhal to Morgner (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993). Professor Druxes is a graduate of Westfalische Wilhelms University in Münster, Germany. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in comparative literature at Brown University.

Laylah Ali is the Francis Christopher Oakley Third Century Professor of Art. She teaches courses on drawing and oil painting. Professor Ali has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis; and Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. A native of Buffalo, New York, Professor Ali received a bachelor’s degree from Williams College and a master of fine arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Soledad Fox was named the V-Nee Yeh ’81 Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature at Williams College. She joined the faculty at Williams in 2001. Professor Fox is the author of Exile, Writer, Soldier, Spy: Jorge Semprún (Arcade, 2018). Dr. Fox is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in comparative literature from the City University of New York.