The Arcus Foundation has announced that Evelynn M. Hammonds, a renowned scholar on the history of scientific and sociopolitical concepts of race, has joined the Foundation's Board of Directors.
"Evelynn is a tremendously accomplished scholar and social justice advocate. We couldn't be more excited to add her expertise and perspective to what is already an extraordinary Board," said Arcus Foundation Founder and Board President Jon Stryker.
Professor Hammonds joined the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 2002 after teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she was also the founding Director of the Center for the Study of Diversity in Science, Technology and Medicine. Her scholarly interests include the history of scientific, medical and sociopolitical concepts of race and sexuality; the history of disease and public health; gender in science and medicine; and African-American history.
Hammonds served as the Dean of Harvard College from 2008 to 2013. Prior to her appointment as Dean, she served as Harvard University's first Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity beginning in July 2005. She is currently the Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science and of African and African-American Studies.
Hammonds is the author of Childhood's Deadly Scourge: The Campaign to Control Diptheria in New York City, 1880-1930, many scholarly articles and the co-editor of the book The Nature of Difference: Sciences of Race in the United States from Jefferson to Genomics, published in 2010.
Hammonds received her B.S. in Physics from Spelman College. She earned a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a Master's degree in Physics from MIT, and a Ph.D. in History of Science from Harvard. She serves on a number of boards, including the Board of Overseers of the Museum of Science in Boston and the Spelman College Board of Trustees. She is a fellow of the Association of Women in Science and serves on the National Science Foundation's Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering. In 2010, Hammonds was appointed to President Obama's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.