Former syndicated columnist and television and radio commentator Julianne Malveaux has been appointed as dean of Cal State Los Angeles’ new College of Ethnic Studies, the university announced Tuesday.
The college will focus on an interdisciplinary analysis of the histories, cultures and social experiences of people of color. The college is also home to the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies, the Department of Chicana(o) and Latina(o) Studies and the Department of Pan-African Studies.
“Learning about people of color, learning about marginalized people, learning the whole of American history is as important as learning quantum physics or English literature,” Malveaux said.
The college aims to develop leaders who will engage in rigorous, self-reflexive study that motivates critical engagement, self-determination and decolonial understandings of the world.
“Like my ethnic studies colleagues, I feel that we are really fortunate to have recruited such a distinguished leader as our inaugural dean,” said Professor Jun Xing, the chair of the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies.
“Dr. Malveaux’s rich experience, national stature and leadership vision will for sure help raise the new college’s profile and make it into a local, national and international center of excellence in the field of ethnic studies.”
Malveaux is a labor economist who has studied such issues as women in the workforce, the impact of racial wealth inequities on economic productivity and the implications of government policies on workers’ health on the job.
Malveaux has taught at several colleges and universities including Michigan State, UC Davis, UC Berkeley and San Francisco State.
Malveaux served as president of Bennett College, a historically Black liberal arts college for women in Greensboro, North Carolina, from 2007-12.
Malveaux is president of PUSH Excel, the educational branch of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Malveaux received a doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in economics from Boston College.
Malveaux will begin her position on July 1.