Princeton University Has Promoted Three Women to the Rank of Full Professor

The board of trustees at Princeton University in New Jersey has announced the promotion of five faculty members to the rank of full professor. Three of those promotions went to women.

Wendy Belcher was named a full professor of comparative literature. She holds a joint faculty appointment in the department of African American studies. She is the author of Abyssinia’s Samuel Johnson: Ethiopian Thought in the Making of an English Author (Oxford University Press, 2012). Professor Belcher is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she majored in English literature. She holds a master’s degree in African studies, a master’s degree in urban planning, and a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Margot Canaday was promoted to full professor of history. She is a legal and political historian who studies gender and sexuality in modern America. Professor Canaday is the author of the award-winning book The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America (Princeton, 2009). Dr. Canaday is a graduate of the University of Iowa and earned a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota.

Deana Lawson was appointed professor of visual arts. Professor Lawson began teaching at Princeton in 2012. Earlier, she taught at California College of Arts in San Francisco; the International Center for Photography in New York; and the Rhode Island School of Design. A native of Rochester, New York, Professor Lawson holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from Pennsylvania State University and a master of fine arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design.