Established in 1996 through a donation of $10 million from Anne T. and Robert Bass, the Bass Society of Fellows serves to recognize and support outstanding faculty at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Members of the society hold a named professor title for a five-year term, along with lifelong recognition as Bass Fellows. Throughout the year, fellows organize opportunities to exchange innovative ideas and experiences, with a particular emphasis on excellence in undergraduate teaching.
This year, 10 scholars at Duke were awarded named professorships under the Bass Felllow program: Four of these appointments went to women.
Jasmine Nichole Cobb was named the Earl D. McLean Jr. Professor. She is a professor of African & African American studies and of art, art history and visual studies with a research focus on Black women, popular culture, and visual representation. She is the author of Picture Freedom: Remaking Black Visuality in the Early Nineteenth Century (New York University Press, 2015) and New Growth: The Art and Texture of Black Hair (Duke University Press, 2023). Dr. Cobb is a graduate of Villanova University in suburban Philadelphia. She holds a master’s degree in rhetoric and communication from the University of Pittsburgh and a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Pennsylvania.
Roseen Giles was appointed the Alexander F. Hehmeyer Associate Professor. Dr. Giles specializes in early modern musical culture and serves as the curator of Duke University Musical Instrument Collections. In her research she examines the aesthetic, professional and personal relationships between poets and musicians of the Italian seventeenth century. She is the author of Monteverdi and the Marvellous: Poetry, Sound, and Representation (Cambridge University Press, 2023) and Lettera Amorosa: Musical Love-Letters in Early Modern Italy (Cambridge University Press, 2025). Dr. Giles earned a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. at the University of Toronto.
Tamika Nunley is the William & Sue Gross Professor. She is a research professor of history and a celebrated historian of African American women’s history and the history of slavery. She is the author of At the Threshold of Liberty: Women, Slavery, and Shifting Identities in Washington, D.C. (University of North Carolina Press, 2021) and The Demands of Justice: Enslaved Women, Capital Crime, and Clemency in Early Virginia (University of North Carolina Press, 2023) Dr. Nunley is a graduate of Miami University in Ohio. She holds a master’s degree in African American studies from Columbia University in New York City and a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Virginia.
Phia Salter was named the Fred W. Shaffer Associate Professor of psychology and neuroscience. Dr. Salter’s research uses cultural-psychological and critical race perspectives to inform our understanding of collective memory, social identity and systemic racism. Before joining the faculty at Duke University, Dr. Salter taught and conducted research at Texas A&M University and served on the faculty at Davidson College in North Carolina. Dr. Salter is a graduate of Davidson College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Kansas.