Ben Vinson III
Ben Vinson III | |
|---|---|
| 18th President of Howard University | |
| Assumed office September 1, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Wayne A.I. Frederick |
| Personal details | |
| Education | Dartmouth College (BA) Columbia University (PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Latin American history Black history |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Bearing arms for his Majesty: The free-colored militia in colonial Mexico (1998) |
| Doctoral advisor | Herbert S. Klein |
Ben Vinson III is an American historian, currently serving as the 18th president of Howard University since September 2023. He served as provost of Case Western Reserve University from 2018 to 2023 and as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at George Washington University from 2013 to 2018.
Biography
[edit]Early life and education
[edit]Vinson is originally from Rapid City, South Dakota, where his father served in the United States Air Force.[1] He received his undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. from Columbia University.[2]
Career
[edit]Vinson served on the faculties of Barnard College and Pennsylvania State University before joining Johns Hopkins University as a professor of history and served as the Herbert Baxter Adams Professor of Latin American History and vice dean of centers, interdisciplinary studies and graduate education. He also helped found Johns Hopkins' Center for Africana Studies and served as its founding director.[3][4]
In 2013, Vinson was appointed as dean of George Washington University's Columbian College of Arts and Sciences.[5][6] As dean of GWU's Columbian College, he led the integration of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design into the college and opened a $275 million interdisciplinary science and engineering building.[7] He also spearheaded diversity initiatives including the Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute that provides funding for high school juniors from their undergraduate to post-doctoral studies.[1][8]
Reception
[edit]Vinson has been chairman of the board of the National Humanities Center since 2018.[9][10] He is also a vice president of the American Historical Association[11] and president of the Conference on Latin American History.[12][13]
Vinson's scholarship focused on the African presence in colonial Mexico and has authored books on the African American experiences in Mexico and Afro-Mexican experiences in the United States.[5] His book Before Mestizaje: The Frontiers of Race and Caste in Colonial Mexico, won the 2019 Howard Cline Book Prize in Mexican History for the best work on Mexico by the Latin American Studies Association.[14]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Taking the Long View on Academic Leadership: Historian and Case Western Provost Ben Vinson III". Mellon Foundation. 2019-07-01. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ "Ben Vinson III Is the New Dean of Columbian College at George Washington University". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. 2013-09-03. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ "Johns Hopkins names Vinson first director for Africana Studies Center". Washington Examiner. 2006-07-22. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ "November 2006 – Center for Africana Studies". krieger.jhu.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ a b "Ben Vinson III To Be Next Dean of Columbian College | Columbian College of Arts & Sciences | The George Washington University". Columbian College of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ "A new era for Columbian College". The GW Hatchet. 2013-04-11. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ Karen Farkas, cleveland com (2018-03-12). "CWRU names new provost and executive vice president". cleveland. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ "CCAS Dean Named Provost of Case Western Reserve University | GW Today | The George Washington University". GW Today. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ "Ben Vinson, III, 2005–2006". National Humanities Center. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ NHC (2018-08-08). "National Humanities Center Board Elects New Chairman and Vice Chairman". National Humanities Center. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ "Ben Vinson III | AHA". www.historians.org. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ "Provost and Executive Vice President Ben Vinson III elected to executive committee of the Conference of Latin American History". The Daily. 2019-01-07. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ "Conference on Latin American History | AHA". www.historians.org. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ "LASA2022 / Polarización socioambiental y rivalidad entre grandes potencias". Latin American Studies Association. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- Living people
- Case Western Reserve University administrators
- Dartmouth College alumni
- Columbia University alumni
- Barnard College faculty
- Pennsylvania State University faculty
- Johns Hopkins University faculty
- American university and college faculty deans
- George Washington University faculty
- Case Western Reserve University faculty
- African-American academic administrators
- 21st-century African-American academics
- 21st-century American academics
- African-American historians