Dr. Jovonne J. Bickerstaff to Depart ACLS After Successful Tenure
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) today announced that after four years, Dr. Jovonne J. Bickerstaff will depart from her position as Director of Intentional Design for an Equitable Academy (IDEA), effective January 31, 2025.

Jovonne joined ACLS in September 2020 as Program Officer of Higher Education Initiatives, overseeing the launch and development of the Mellon Foundation-funded Intention Foundry (IF), helped build a strong community of scholars through the ACLS Emerging Voices Fellowship program, and deepened the work of ACLS with member societies and faculty and administrators at HBCUs. She was named Director of the newly established IDEA unit in 2023 that includes IF, Emerging Voices, the Leadership for a New Academy (LINA), and the ACLS Digital Justice Grants program designed and managed by Senior Program Officer Dr. Keyanah Nurse.
As seen in her valuable contributions in ACLS convenings with fellows and grantees, society leaders, and college and university administrators, Jovonne’s commitment to human-centered design thinking grounded in an ethics of care has helped establish ACLS as an agent for improving conditions within the academy, particularly for early career and under-represented scholars.
Before joining ACLS in 2020, Jovonne was a Postdoctoral Associate for the inaugural African American Digital Humanities Initiative (AADHum) at the University of Maryland, College Park. She has been a Fulbright fellow, Cambridge Gates Scholar, and predoctoral Ford and NSF fellow. Jovonne holds a PhD & MA in Sociology from Harvard, MPhil in Social Psychology from the University of Cambridge, and a BS in Urban Studies & Planning and a BS in Writing & Humanistic Studies from MIT.
ACLS is deeply grateful to Jovonne for her service and dedication to the ACLS mission of advancing a more just and equitable academy. We wish her great success as she embarks on the next chapter of her career.
As of February 1, 2025, Dr. Keyanah Nurse will take leadership of the Intention Foundry while continuing to manage the ACLS Digital Justice Grants program. ACLS President Dr. Joy Connolly will be the point person for LINA.