Two academic women will be honored at the annual MELUS Conference in Athens, Georgia on April 11. MELUS is the Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States.
Karla FC Holloway, the James B. Duke Professor of English at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina will receive the Award for Distinguished Contribution in Ethnic Studies. Professor Holloway is the author of eight books including Legal Fictions: Constituting Race, Composing Literature (Duke University Press, 2014).
Professor Holloway is a graduate of Talladega College in Alabama. She holds a master’s degree from the Duke University School of Law and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English and linguistics from Michigan State University.
Bonnie TuSmith is an associate professor of English at Northeastern University in Boston. She will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the MELUS conference. She has been a member of MELUS since 1985 and co-founded the organization’s Women of Color Caucus. She served as president of the organization from 2000 to 2003.
Dr. TuSmith is the author or editor of five books including Race in the College Classroom: Pedagogy and Politics (Rutgers University Press, 2002). She holds a Ph.D. from Washington State University.