Recently, FTVM Professor Lisa Nakamura was appointed Gwendolyn Calvert Baker Collegiate Professor of American Culture and Screen Arts by the University of Michigan Regent's Office. In a message from the Regent's Office, they said, "Nakamura's research lies in digital media studies, which she approaches from the perspective of race and ethnic studies.  Nakamura has developed a series of exciting new courses for an emerging field and she has pioneering several successful courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels."

Nakamura is very grateful for the appointment and chose the name herself. "Out of all of the professors who have taught here, I chose Dr. Baker, a woman of color who grew up in Ann Arbor, also known as the 'mother of multiculturalism.'" Nakamura explained. "My first teaching jobs at Hunter, Kingsborough, and Sonoma State University from 89-95 licensed a multicultural curriculum, and thank God they did. It was simply the norm at that time to teach Malcolm X, Paule Marshall, and Gloria Anzaldua to freshmen who needed to learn how to write, and everyone did it. It was my first education in women of color feminism and it didn't come from any class I ever took, just the ones I taught to my students in the open admissions days of CUNY. She[Dr. Baker]'s an educational policy person who taught in the School of Education, and I do digital media studies, but her work created the conditions of possibility for mine."

Congratulations, Lisa!