WASHINGTON - The Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership (CWGGL) at Howard University is excited to welcome Anita Plummer, Ph.D., as the new associate director for research and faculty engagement. The center supports faculty and graduate students engaged in innovative, interdisciplinary research on women, gender and sexuality. In her role, Plummer will be responsible for implementing programs that will increase research productivity and publications of faculty and students.

“I am elated to see one of the four pillars of the center [faculty engagement] coming to life through this appointment. Plummer brings a strong record of feminist research and engagement to this position, having been part of the organizing team for past programming for the International Women’s Day events at Howard University, and having served as past co-convenor of the Women’s Caucus of the African Studies Association,” said Jarpa Dawuni, Ph.D., founding director of the center.

“I am excited to launch a research incubator that will support research projects in the initial stages of development so that the women’s center can become a center of excellence on issues related to Black feminist, gender and sexuality studies,” says Plummer. 

Under her portfolio, Plummer will work with faculty to develop the CWGGL’s existing  Interdisciplinary Collaborative Networks (ICN) and to foster faculty-faculty and faculty-student research collaboration based on the CWGGL’s five core themes. These faculty-led networks foster collaboration and scholarship on a range of issues related to gender from different disciplines. In Summer 2022, the center will fund the first round of its Faculty Summer Research Grant.

Plummer is an assistant professor of African studies at Howard University. Her research and teaching focus on African political economy, emerging markets, transnationalism and Sino-African relations. Before joining the faculty at Howard University, she taught international studies at Spelman College in Atlanta and she was also a Mellon post-doctoral fellow in the Cultures in Transnational Perspective Program and visiting assistant professor of global studies and political science at the University of California, Los Angeles. She was awarded a Carter G. Woodson Center Pre-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Virginia. She received her Ph.D. in African studies from Howard University. Her current book project, “Kenya’s Engagement with China: Discourse, Power and Agency” (University of Michigan Press) focuses on grassroots perspectives and responses to China’s increased political and economic interventions in Africa. Plummer has conducted research in China, Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique and Senegal.

To learn more about the Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership, click here.

To learn more about the Interdisciplinary Collaborative Networks (ICN) and to create or join one, click here.

About Howard University

Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private, research university that is comprised of 14 schools and colleges. Students pursue more than 140 programs of study leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University operates with a commitment to Excellence in Truth and Service and has produced one Schwarzman Scholar, three Marshall Scholars, four Rhodes Scholars, 12 Truman Scholars, 25 Pickering Fellows and more than 165 Fulbright recipients. Howard also produces more on-campus African American Ph.D. recipients than any other university in the United States. For more information on Howard University, visit www.howard.edu.

Media Contact: Brittany Bailer; brittany.bailer@howard.edu