The Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery (H&LS) Initiative and the University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences have invited four visiting faculty members from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to teach and conduct research at Harvard University for the 2024–25 academic year.
They were warmly received on the campus, and are eager to observe their impact on the students as well as the opportunities and meaningful connections they forge with FAS colleagues.
This year, the program includes Howard University, Morgan State University, Xavier University of Louisiana, and four visiting professors. This academic year, these professors will have the option of teaching courses or conducting their own research.
The lecturers are as follows:
At Xavier University of Louisiana, Asem Abdulahad holds the position of associate professor of chemistry. This fall semester, he will research and develop new materials for carbon dioxide capture applications by utilizing his comprehension of the relationships between polymer structure and property.
At Xavier University of Louisiana, Carmen Luz Cosme Puntiel is an assistant professor of Spanish and Afro-Latin American and Caribbean studies. The subjectivity, intellectual imagination, and political imagination of African-American enslaved and freed individuals who lived in colonial Cuba in the 19th century are the subjects of her research. Currently, she is working on a collection of short stories in Spanish titled “Mis ancestras todava cuentan historias.” It expands her research on the impact of African oral traditions during and after colonization because it is based on the experiences of young people of African descent in the Diaspora.
At Howard University, Nicole Dezrea Jenkins is an assistant professor of sociology and criminology. This fall semester, she will expand her research on the intersection of race, gender, and institutions, focusing on Black women’s experiences in the African Diaspora. She will also continue her international research on natural hair discrimination and celebration through her Global Crowns research project and work on her current book project with Princeton University Press.
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At Morgan State University, Coleman A. Jordan (ebo) is an assistant professor of architecture and planning. Decolonizing Black aesthetics and advocating for African and African Diaspora solidarity and innovation are the primary focuses of his research on the Spaces of the Black Atlantic.
The West African talking drum will serve as the inspiration for his pavilion design, “ReCall & Response,” which will be displayed at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale from May to November. He will be instructing HAA 174P, “I Can’t Breathe!” this fall. locating the African Diaspora in the Americas that was geographically suffocated.
