Two Women Named University Distinguished Professors at the University of Kansas

The University of Kansas has announced the appointment of three scholars to the post of University Distinguished Professor. These positions were first established in 1958 and the first faculty were named to the posts in 1963. Criteria for selection include record of scholarship, participation in university affairs and professional organizations, service to community and the success of their students, colleagues, and institutions. Two of the three new University Distinguished Professors are women.

Ann Cudd has been on the university’s faculty since 1988, teaching in the department of philosophy and the department of women, gender, and sexuality studies. Since 2008, she has served as associate dean for humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She is the author of Analyzing Oppression (Oxford University Press, 2006) and co-author of Capitalism For and Against: A Feminist Debate (Cambridge University Press, 2011).

Professor Cudd is a graduate of Swarthmore College, where she majored in philosophy and mathematics. She holds a master’s degree in economics and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh.

Maryemma Graham has been a member of the English department faculty at the University of Kansas since 1998. She is the founder and director of the Project on the History of Black Writing and the former president of the Toni Morrison Society. She is the co-editor of the Cambridge History of African American Literature.

Professor Graham is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and holds a master’s degree in English from Northwestern University. She holds a second master’s degree in Africana studies and a Ph.D. in English from Cornell University.