University of Pennsylvania Appoints Four Women to Endowed Presidential Professorships

Marcia Chatelain has been named the Presidential Penn Compact Professor of Africana Studies. In her faculty position, she conducts research on African American history and migration, women’s studies, and race and food. She has authored several scholarly publications including her most recent book, Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America (Liveright, 2020).

Dr. Chatelain is a graduate of the University of Missouri, where she double-majored in journalism and religious studies. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in American civilization from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Bakirathi Mani has been named the Presidential Penn Compact Professor of English. In addition to her primary faculty appointment, she teaches in the Asian American studies program. Her scholarly endeavors focus on Asian American, American, and South Asian studies, specifically topics on culture, postcolonial theory, and ethnic studies. She is the author of two books: Unseeing Empire: Photography, Representation, South Asian America (Duke University Press, 2020) and Aspiring to Home: South Asians in America (Stanford University Press, 2012).

Dr. Mani holds a bachelor’s degree in history and diplomacy from Georgetown University, a master’s degree in modern Indian history from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Dehli, India, and a Ph.D. in modern thought and literature from Stanford University.

Letícia Marteleto has been named the Presidential Penn Compact Professor of Sociology. Her academic pursuits center around the understanding of inequality and its intersections with fertility, education, and health. Currently, she is researching how sudden events such as the COVID-19 pandemic impact the lives of women.

Dr. Marteleto received her bachelor’s degree in economics from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil and her master’s degree in sociology and demography from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. She earned a second master’s degree and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Michigan.

Shannon Mattern has been named the Presidential Penn Compact Professor of Cinema and Media Studies. She previously taught in the department of anthropology and the School of Media Studies at The New School in New York. Over the course of her career, she has written multiple books, most recently A City Is Not a Computer: Other Urban Intelligences (Princeton University Press, 2021).

Dr. Mattern is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, where she double-majored in English and communications. She holds a Ph.D. in culture and communication from New York University.