March 4, 2019
Ursuline College has named Danette Marie Pugh-Patton its latest Faculty Diversity Fellow, a position supported by a grant from KeyBank Foundation.
Pugh-Patton, who is completing a PhD in communication studies at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, is teaching an undergraduate course at Ursuline titled “Identity, Diversity and Community.”
“I’m happy to have this opportunity because this fellowship enables me to experience teaching at the college level while I complete my PhD dissertation,” Pugh-Patton said. “I enjoy the small classes at Ursuline because I feel I have a better one-on-one connection with the student and also a better opportunity to meet colleagues.”
Ursuline President Sister Christine De Vinne, OSU, PhD, said that in establishing the Faculty Diversity Fellowship with the support of the KeyBank Foundation, the College was maintaining its commitment to increasing under-represented presence on the faculty; enhancing the climate of diversity on campus; providing additional role models for students, particularly students of color; and providing fellows with college faculty experience.
“I am delighted to welcome Ms. Pugh-Patton to our faculty. Our students are benefiting from her perspectives as well as her academic strengths,” said Sister De Vinne. “At Ursuline College, we are committed to increasing the diversity of our faculty and we are very grateful that KeyBank Foundation embraced this goal and provided the funding that allowed us to bring four different academics on board as part-time faculty members since January 2017,” she continued.
The foundation’s grant funds Pugh-Patton for two semesters.
In announcing the grant two years ago, Margot Copeland, Chair & CEO of the KeyBank Foundation, said, “The KeyBank Foundation aims to transform lives through our philanthropic investments. We are very pleased to support this Ursuline College initiative, which will augment the College’s efforts to improve diversity. Students will benefit from access to the KeyBank Diversity Fellows, and the fellows, in turn, will gain valuable faculty experience, professional development and mentoring.”
Pugh-Patton’s major area of study centers on the power dynamics of race, gender, and sexuality in communicative experiences. She recently published a co-authored article in Black Camera that explores the social media social justice movement surrounding the death of Sandra Bland and is currently working on a co-authored book chapter that conceptualizes ratchet feminism.
She earned a graduate certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. She earned her master’s degree from California State University, San Bernardino in Intercultural Communication and her bachelor’s in English from Allegheny College.