UNF names Dr. Tru Leverette as new director of Africana studies
The University of North Florida has named Dr. Tru
Leverette as the Director of Africana Studies, a new interdisciplinary major being created in the College of Arts and Science.
As director, Leverette will work with a steering committee of faculty who teach in areas relevant to the emergent major to determine the details of this new program of study. She will be responsible for completing the process that ensures this new major meets academic standards, helping to guide and develop programming, and working with departments to determine how new hires can contribute to the curriculum.
“Dr. Leverette has a wealth of experience in many service roles across the college,” said Dr. George Rainbolt, UNF College of Arts and Sciences dean and professor. “I believe that she is perfectly suited to take Africana Studies at UNF to the next level.”
Leverette is an associate professor of English and has been with the University since 2005. She has directed UNF’s African-American/African Diaspora Studies Minor since 2011. Her expertise is in African-American literature, and her research interests broadly include race, gender, and identity in literature and culture, critical mixed race theory, and mindfulness and pedagogy.
She has published more than ten articles and currently has a book, “The Mindful Classroom: Constructive Conversations on Race, Identity, and Social Justice,” under contract with Lexington Books. Her edited collection on the Black Arts Movement, “With Fists Raised: Radical Art, Contemporary Activism, and the Iconoclasm of the Black Arts Movement,” will be published by Liverpool University Press in spring 2021.
Leverette has doctoral and master’s degrees from the University of Florida and a bachelor’s from Barry University.