Who We Are

The Women of Color in the Academy Project (WOCAP) is a campus-wide faculty network at U-M that supports scholarship focused on understanding the experiences of women of color in the academy and advocacy work to address the challenges and issues faced uniquely by women of color in the academy. To advance this scholarship and advocacy work, WOCAP provides professional development and a supportive and inclusive community that includes writing retreats, weekly writing sessions, bi-annual dinners, and other networking and professional development opportunities. WOCAP is open to all faculty who support or are actively engaged in this work.

Vision Statement

Achieving a university where all women of color faculty experience success, leadership, visibility and representation at all levels of governance.

The campus-wide WOCAP faculty steering committee would like to extend an invitation to participate to all instructional track faculty who support or are actively engaged in scholarship or advocacy work focused on the experiences of women of color in higher education. Together, we can call attention to structural barriers and promote solutions to enhance the success of women in color in academia.

Contact wocapinfo@umich.edu for additional information about WOCAP.

Shirley Verrett Award

This award honors the late Shirley Verrett, a U-M Professor who “would have walked the world over for her students.” Ms. Verrett was a James Earl Jones Distinguished University Professor of Voice at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance and an internationally acclaimed opera singer with over 40 roles during the course of her illustrious four-decade career. She was one of the pioneering leaders in the generation of Black opera singers and her legacy continues to pave the way for female artists from diverse backgrounds.

Award Details

The Award recognizes a faculty member whose work–teaching, performance, scholarship or service–supports the success of female artists from diverse cultural and racial backgrounds. The nominee must be within the “Art” field as broadly defined to include literary, visual, and performance arts (e.g. poetry, photography, painting, dance, theatre).

Established by the Office of the Senior Vice Provost in 2012, the award carries a $5,000 prize and is available to all tenured/tenure-track faculty, clinical faculty as well as lecturers at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Criteria for the Award

  • Demonstrated support and mentorship of female artists at U-M from diverse cultural and racial backgrounds
  • Examples of innovative diversity and inclusion impact outcomes on U-M departments or schools
  • Evidence of leadership or advocacy on behalf of female artists within the wider University community or within specific “Art” fields or the artistic community nationally

Past Winners

  • 2022-2023Amy Stillman

    Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of American Culture and Music; Director of Native American Studies Program, former director of Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies Program, Professor of Music in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance

  • 2021-2022Ashley Lucas

    Professor of American Culture, English, and Latino Studies in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, Residential College, Professor of Theatre & Drama, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design, and American Culture at the University of Michigan. Former Director of the Prison Creative Arts Project and current Director of the Latina/o Studies Program

  • 2019-2021Daniel Washington

    Professor of Voice, School of Music, Theatre and Dance

  • 2018-2019Tiffany Ng

    Assistant Professor of Carillon and University Carillonist

  • 2017-2018Naomi André

    Associate Director for Faculty, Residential College, and Associate Professor, Afroamerican and African Studies, the Residential College, and Women’s Studies

  • 2016-2017Anita Gonzalez

    Professor of Theatre & Drama, School of Music, Theatre & Dance

  • 2015-2016Professor Emeritus George Shirley

    Joseph Edgar Maddy Distinguished University Emeritus Professor of Voice, School of Music, Theatre & Dance

  • 2014-2015Professor Emerita Lorna Goodison

    English Language and Literature, Afroamerican and African Studies

  • 2013 - 2014Professor Charles Oyamo Gordon

    English Language and Literature, School of Music, Theatre

  • 2012 - 2013Professor Robin Wilson

    Department of Dance, School of Music, Theatre and Dance

  • 2011 - 2012Professor Glenda Dickerson

    Department of Theatre and Drama, School of Music, Theatre and Dance