Esther Jones has been appointed the inaugural associate dean for faculty development in the Office of the Dean of the Faculty at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She will also serve as associate professor of Africana studies. Prior to joining the faculty at Brown University, Dr. Jones served as associate professor, E. Franklin Frazier Chair of African American Literature, Theory, and Culture, and associate provost for faculty affairs at Clark University in Massachusetts.
As the inaugural Associate Dean for Faculty Development, Jones supports faculty development at all career stages, from new faculty orientation and onboarding to retirement, to renewal of focus and energy for midcareer faculty.
She holds a Ph.D. in English, an M.A. in African American & African Studies, and a B.A. in English and Music. Her interdisciplinary research in the field of the medical humanities engages literary, historical, philosophical, and ethical explorations of Black women’s health and medicine. She is the author of “Medicine and Ethics in Black Women’s Speculative Fiction” (2015).
On the national stage, Jones serves on the Executive Board of the Phi Beta Kappa Society in the roles of Vice President, Chair of the Phi Beta Kappa Foundation, and Co-Chair of Phi Beta Kappa’s Futures Task Force alongside President Peter Quimby and Secretary/CEO Fred Lawrence.
