American Studies Chair Named Interim Director of Nyumburu Cultural Center

Vice President for Belonging Georgina Dodge sent the following email to campus leadership on Tuesday morning: 

I am pleased to share with you that Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson has agreed to serve as interim director of the Nyumburu Cultural Center for the 2025-26 academic year, joining the Belonging and Community team after a decade of service as chair of UMD’s Department of American Studies.

Dr. Williams-Forson is an internationally recognized, award-winning scholar and thought leader in Black food studies whose groundbreaking research has explored the intersections of food, race, gender and power in America. She was awarded the James Beard Media Award in 2023 for her book “Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America” and the Elli Köngäs-Maranda Prize from the American Folklore Society for “Building Houses out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power.” 

Her expertise has been featured on Netflix’s “Ugly Delicious,” NBC’s “Family Style with Al Roker,” and the documentary “The Invisible Vegan,” and she curated the exhibit "Fire & Freedom: Food and Enslavement in Early America” for the National Library of Medicine. She is also co-editor of the foundational food studies text, “Taking Food Public: Redefining Food in a Changing World.” 

Dr. Williams-Forson continues to serve as the principal investigator for Breaking the M.O.L.D., a Mellon Foundation-funded initiative to expand pathways to leadership in the arts and humanities for women and scholars of color. She holds affiliate appointments in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies; African American Studies; Anthropology; the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and the Consortium on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity. She holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Maryland.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson to our team! I am grateful for her service in shepherding the Nyumburu Cultural Center through a year of transition, and I look forward to working together.

Sincerely,