Emilie M. Townes, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology at Yale Divinity School, has been named the University of Chicago Divinity School's Alumna of the Year for 2008.
In July 2008 Townes, who has taught at numerous institutions, including Union Theological Seminary, Saint Paul School of Theology, DePaul University,will become the first African American and first woman to serve as the associate dean of academic affairs of Yale Divinity School. Also in 2008, she will become the first African American woman to serve as president of the American Academy of Religion.
Townes will deliver her Alumna of the Year address, "The Dancing Mind," at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 17, in Swift Lecture Hall. A reception will follow.
The Alumnus of the Year award recognizes outstanding achievement by graduates of the Divinity School, and has been awarded annually since 1947. Past recipients include Peter Paris, Rebecca Chopp, R. Scott Appleby, and William LaFleur.
A graduate of the University of Chicago's undergraduate college,and an ordained minister with the American Baptist Church, Townes received her Doctor of Ministry degree form the Divinity School in 1982.
Townes's scholarly work focuses on Christian ethics, womanist ethics, critical social theory, cultural theory and studies, as well as on postmodernism and social postmodernism. Her specific interests include health and health care; the cultural production of evil; analyzing the linkages among race, gender, class, and other forms of oppression; and developing a network between African American and Afro-Brazilian religious and secular leaders and community-based organizations.
Her books include Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil, Breaking the Fine Rain of Death: African American Health Issues and a Womanist Ethic of Care, In a Blaze of Glory: Womanist Spirituality as Social Witness, and Womanist Justice, Womanist Hope. In addition, she is the editor of two volumes: A Troubling in My Soul: Womanist Perspectives on Evil and Suffering and Embracing the Spirit: Womanist Perspectives on Hope, Salvation, and Transformation.
—Prof. Chuan He
