The University of Pennsylvania Names Three Women Scholars to Endowed Professorships

Emily Hannum, professor of sociology, has been appointed the Stanley I. Sheerr Term Professor in the Social Sciences. Professor Hannum is a sociologist and demographer whose research focuses on poverty and child welfare, social stratification, and sociology of education, particularly in China. Dr. Hannum also holds a secondary appointment in the Graduate School of Education at the university. She is currently serving as associate dean for the Social Sciences in the School of Arts & Sciences.

Professor Hannum is a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where she majored in sociology. She earned a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Michigan.

Nancy J. Hirschmann, professor of political science in the School of Arts and Sciences, has been appointed a Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought. Dr. Hirschmann is a feminist theorist, historian of political thought, and analytic philosopher, with particular expertise on the concept of freedom. She is the author or editor of eleven books. Professor Hirshmann has served as the director of the program on gender, sexuality, and women’s studies and the Alice Paul Center for Research on Gender, Sexuality, and Women at the university. She joined the university’s faculty in 2002 after teaching at Cornell University and Swarthmore College.

Dr. Hirschmann is a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she majored in American studies. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in political science from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Anthea Butler, professor of religious studies in the School of Arts and Sciences, has been appointed a Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought. Dr. Butler is a historian of American religion and an expert on African American religion, evangelicalism, and Pentecostalism. Her research combines the archive-driven historical study of evangelical Christianity with the study of race and religion, gender and religion, and religion, media, and politics. Dr. Butler’s latest book is White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America (University of North Carolina Press, 2021). She is president-elect of the American Society for Church History.

Professor Butler is a graduate of the University of Houston-Clear Lake. She earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. in religious studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.