Rachel E. Harding has been named the Sterling Brown Distinguished Visiting Professor of Africana Studies at Williams College in Massachusetts. Harding, who is associate professor of Indigenous Spiritual Traditions in the Ethnic Studies Department, will be on leave from CU Denver in the spring and fall of 2018. While at Williams, Harding will work on a manuscript on the conjunction of mysticism and activism in Black women’s social justice organizing in Brazil and the USA. The professorship, created in honor of Williams alumnus, Sterling Brown, '22, an acclaimed poet, was previously held by a number of esteemed scholars and artists including philosopher Cornel West, political scientist Manning Marable, novelist Aminata Forna, visual artist Carrie Mae Weems and theologian Katie Cannon.
University of Colorado Denver