"This thought-provoking history offers scholars and others interested in institutional autonomy and the value of civil society a deep understanding of the central role that institutions of higher education can play in social and political change and the vital importance of independent institutions during times of national crisis."
Congratulations to Joy Ann Willisamson-Lott, whose book, Jim Crow Campus: Higher Education and the Struggle for a New Southern Social Order (Teachers College Press 2018), has been awarded the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ annual Frederic W. Ness Book Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the understanding and improvement of liberal education. Williamson-Lott is Dean of the Graduate School and Professor of the History of Education in the College of Education, as well as a co-editor of the History of Education Quarterly.
Her book, Jim Crow Campus, explores how the black freedom struggle and the anti–Vietnam War movement dovetailed with faculty and student activism in the South to undermine the traditional role of higher education and bring about social change. From the publisher:
"This thought-provoking history offers scholars and others interested in institutional autonomy and the value of civil society a deep understanding of the central role that institutions of higher education can play in social and political change and the vital importance of independent institutions during times of national crisis."
The 2020 Ness Award will be formally presented to the author by Simpson Center Director and AAC&U Member of the Board of Directors Kathleen Woodward at the AAC&U Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. in January, where Williamson-Lott will also present a special session on the book.
Previous recipients of the award include Cathy Davidson, Martha Nussbaum and Michael Roth.