Administration
Core Program Faculty
Affiliated AADS Faculty
Dr. DeAnne Davis Brooks
AP Associate Professor & Director of Graduate Studies, Kinesiology
Dr. Joseph L. Graves, Jr.
Professor, Joint School of Nanoscience & Nanoengineering
Dr. Deborah H. Barnes
Adjunct Professor, African American & African Diaspora Studies
Dr. April Ruffin-Adams
Adjunct Professor, African American & African Diaspora Studies
Visiting AADS Fellow
Monica Carrillo
Visiting Fellow, Lloyd International Honors College
Artist in Residence
Meet our Artist in Residence
AADS’s Mellon Multivocal Humanities Artist in Residence Josephus Thompson III is Greensboro, North Carolina’s Inaugural Poet Laureate, a teacher and lecturer, and founder of The Poetry Project. He works in both educational and corporate settings, focusing on “Education through Correlation”: poetry as a catalyst for literacy, leadership and service.
As host of The Poetry Café, his voice is heard nationally over the airwaves. He showcases talented artists from all over the world in the genres of poetry, hip-hop, and R&B, to name a few. The show also tours nationally and was featured on Amazon Prime.
Josephus III has performed for Oprah, opened for Kanye West and Floetry, shared stages with The Last Poets, traveled to Australia, London, Seoul, Malaysia, The Philippines and South Africa, and crisscrossed back and forth across the United States sharing his gift.
Most recently he has developed The Poetry Field Trip, introducing K-12 students to the power and creativity of poetry; and The Poetry Project Institute, a series of Professional Development workshops created for teachers to provide them with resources and training on the use of spoken word in the classroom. Every day he searches for new ways to use his gifts and abilities to pursue the hopes, dreams, ambitions and purpose of his life. Poet, Host, Recording Artist, Entrepreneur, Teacher, Dreamer, Visionary, Mentor, Brother, and Son.
Emeriti
Michael D. Cauthen
Emeritus Faculty
Prof. Michael D. Cauthen retired as Senior Lecturer in African American and African Diaspora Studies. He taught several courses, including, Introduction to African American Studies, Theories in African American Studies, and Understanding Race. He has published, and delivered papers, on race, race and education, the race and intelligence debate, and the “Black-White test score gap.” He also co-authored a 2009 book entitled, The Student Athlete’s Guide to College Recruitment. Mr. Cauthen was selected for inclusion in the 2004 Who’s Who among America’s Teachers and was the president of the South Atlantic Philosophy of Education Society from 2006 to 2008. Additionally, he received the Lloyd International Honors College Teaching and Mentoring Excellence Award. During his tenure in AADS he chaired the Program’s Whitney “Whitty” Ransome Scholarship in African American and African Diaspora Studies Committee.
Selected Papers and presentations
- “How social inequality ‘embodies’ racial biology,” 62nd Annual Meeting of the South Atlantic Philosophy of Education Society, High Point University, Feb. 2018
- “The race and intelligence debate: an epistemic crisis,” The SAPES Journal, in print, 2017
- “African America on the edge of infinity: re-envisioning its past, present, and future,” the Conversations with the Community Series, by UNCG’s African American and African Diaspora Studies Program, 2017
- “Dramatic but Unrecognized Changes in the Cognitive Ability of Black Americans,” Fortieth Annual National Convention of the National Council of Black Studies, Charlotte, North Carolina, March 2016
- Cauthen, M. D., and Dr. N. F. Woods. “The Incredible Henrietta Lacks.” UNCG, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Contemporary Issues Forums. Greensboro, North Carolina, September 2013
- “Matters of race and place,” in N. F. Woods’ Rooted in the soul: an Introduction to African American Studies and the African American experience. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company 2012
Dr. Naurice Frank Woods
Emeritus Faculty
Dr. Naurice Frank Woods, Jr. continues to teach in the African American & African Diaspora Studies Program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, having previously served as Director and a longtime faculty member. He holds a BFA from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a MFA from UNCG, and a Ph.D. in Art History from The Union Institute and University. He teaches courses in African American art history, music, film, and popular culture and publishes regularly in these areas. He is also a productive visual artist. Among his books are African American Pioneers in Art, Film, and Music, Race and Racism in Nineteenth-Century Art, and Henry Ossawa Tanner: Art, Faith, Race, and Legacy.
