ACLS Board of Directors

Joy Connolly, ACLS President

Marwan M. Kraidy became the dean and CEO of Northwestern University in Qatar in July 2020.  Prior to assuming this position, he was the Anthony Shadid Chair in Global Media, Politics and Culture, and founding director of the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC) at the Annenberg…

Jimena Canales is an expert in nineteenth and twentieth century history of the physical sciences, working for a better understanding of science and technology in relation to the arts and humanities. She received an MA and PhD from Harvard University in the History of Science and a BSc…

Melani McAlister is a professor of American studies and international affairs at Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, The George Washington University. She specializes in the multiple “global visions” produced by and for Americans. In her writing and teaching, she focuses on the ways in which cultural and political…

Dana A. Williams is Professor of African American literature and Dean of the Graduate School at Howard University. Prior to serving as Dean, she served as Chair of English at Howard University for nine years. She has previously served as president of the College Language Association (the oldest and largest…

Frances Daly Fergusson is president emeritus of Vassar College. She served as president of Vassar from 1986-2006. Fergusson previously was provost and vice president for academic affairs at Bucknell University from 1982-86. An architectural historian, Fergusson has her BA from Wellesley College and her MA and PhD from Harvard…

James H. Averill retired in 2007 as partner from Wellington Management, an investment counsel firm based in Boston. He served in Wellington’s Radnor, PA office as a security analyst and portfolio manager on the Windsor Fund team for 23 years, specializing in financial companies. In a prior career, he…

Dr. Edward E. Cohen is an economic historian specializing in the economy and society of Classical Athens and of Imperial Rome.  He is the author of many articles and books, including Ancient Athenian Maritime Courts; Athenian Economy and Society: A Banking Perspective; The Athenian Nation; Athenian Prostitution: The Business…

Lizabeth Cohen is the Howard Mumford Jones Research Professor of American Studies and a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of History at Harvard. From 2011-18 she was the dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Her most recent book is Saving America’s Cities: Ed Logue and the…

Dr. Carlos Alberto Contreras is Professor of History at Grossmont College in San Diego, California, where he teaches Latin American history, the history of Mexico, and race and ethnicity in the United States. He received his Ph.D. in History from UCLA and has published articles on the Mexican economy,…

Roderick A. Ferguson is professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale University. He received his B.A. from Howard University and his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego. An interdisciplinary scholar, his work traverses such fields as American Studies, gender studies, queer studies, cultural studies, African…

Sylvester A. Johnson is Professor of Black Studies at Northwestern University. He was appointed to hold the 2024 Kluge Chair in Technology and Society at the Library of Congress’s Kluge Center. As a scholar of race, religion, and technology, Sylvester works at the intersection of technical and humanistic stakeholders…

Michèle Lamont is Professor of Sociology and of African and African American Studies and the Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies at Harvard University. A cultural and comparative sociologist who studies inclusion and inequality, she has tackled topics such as dignity, respect, stigma, racism and stigma, class and…

Desiree Pedescleaux serves as Dean of Undergraduate Studies and is an associate professor of the political science department at Spelman College. A member of the faculty since 1991, she teaches courses in National Government, Constitutional Law, Civil Liberties, and Urban Politics. Pedescleaux is a member of the American Political Science…

Ayanna Thompson is a Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University and the Executive Director of the Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies (ACMRS). She was elected to the British Academy in 2025 and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021. Thompson is the…

James Q. Whitman is Ford Foundation Professor of Comparative and Foreign Law at Yale University.  He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, where his dissertation was directed by Arnaldo Momigliano, as well as baccalaureate and law degrees from Yale.   Before beginning his teaching career, he was a…