Howard University plans to create an endowed chair position in honor of one of its most distinguished alumna, award-winning novelist Toni Morrison.
The Toni Morrison Endowed Chair in Arts and Humanities will be created using $3 million of the $40 million donated by philanthropist Mackenzie Scott, former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in 2020.
According to a news release, the university plans to select a faculty member recognized as “a national and international leader” in their field of scholarship or creative work to fill the position.
In honor of Black History Month, Howard is pleased to announce the Toni Morrison Endowed Chair in Arts and Humanities. The chair will help foster vibrant & elevated creative work across the department.
📸 : Timothy Greenfield-Sanders/@gettyimages pic.twitter.com/QH5YJkgYgy
— Howard University (@HowardU) February 10, 2022
“The chair holder will have a track record of academic and creative impact that reflects the acclaimed career of Toni Morrison,” Howard University said in the release.
The new chair will also work with school faculty to oversee the development of a new leadership laboratory within the arts and humanities department that will address social issues and prepare students for leadership roles in “increasingly diverse America.”
“Toni Morrison left her mark as one of the greatest figures in American literature, and her legacy is one that continues to inspire future generations of writers and thinkers,” President Wayne A. I. Frederick said in a statement. “By establishing an endowed chair in her name, we hope to deepen our students’ exposure to literary and other creative arts and to continue to remember Ms. Morrison’s legacy.”
Morrison earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Howard University in 1953 and returned to her alma mater to teach in the English department in 1958. She was a Nobel Laureate and received multiple honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2012.
It is not the first time Howard University has posthumously honored an alumnus. Last year, the school renamed its College of Fine Arts after actor and Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman.
