Dr. Mimms served as a faculty member at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, for two decades, including 10 years as the founding director of the college's Tacoma campus.
In 1970, Dr. Maxwell-Roddey became the second African-American to be hired as a full-time faculty member at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. One year later, she became the founding director of the university's Africana studies department.