A Trio of Women Scholars Who Were Appointed to Endowed Professorships at Universities

Lori Diel was named to the Kay and Velma Kimbell Chair of Art History at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. She joined the faculty at the university in 2001. Professor Diel is the author of three books, including The Codex Mexicanus: A Guide to Life in Late Sixteenth-Century New Spain (University of Texas Press, 2018).

Professor Diel earned a bachelor’s degree in art history and anthropology from Emory University in Atlanta. She holds a master’s degree in Latin American studies and a doctorate in Latin American studies with a concentration in Latin American art history from Tulane University in New Orleans.

Cynthia Colburn was appointed to the Blanche E. Seaver Chair in Fine Arts at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. She is a professor of art history and joined the university’s faculty in 2005. Professor Colburn specializes in ancient Mediterranean art and archeology, and she is currently working on a book about gender-based violence in art.

Dr. Colburn holds a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and a Ph.D., all in art history and all from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Karen Cook-Bell, an associate professor and chair of the department of history and government at Bowie State University in Maryland, was appointed to the Wilson H. Wilkins Professorship. She is the author of Claiming Freedom: Race, Kinship, and Land in Nineteenth-Century Georgia (University of South Carolina Press, 2018) and Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

Professor Bell is a graduate of Savannah State University in Georgia. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in history from Howard University in Washington, D.C.