Dr. Miriam Clinton, associate professor of art and art history and the L. Palmer Brown Chair of Interdisciplinary Humanities, has been named one of nine Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) Mellon Academic Leadership Fellows.
The ACS Mellon Academic Leadership Fellows Program, funded by a $2 million grant from the Mellon Foundation, aims to provide leadership opportunities to a diverse group of tenured humanities faculty and thereby expand the demographic representation in academic administration at ACS and beyond. The program combines leadership development, mentoring, and hands-on experiences. Each fellow takes on a two-year role at their institution involving a portfolio of responsibilities or a distinct institutional project.
Clinton will assume the role of associate dean for teaching, learning, and emerging technologies on July 1, 2025.
“We are thrilled that Miriam will be joining our office in this new position. A faculty leader who is both grounded in the humanities and attuned to the technologies that are transforming our world, Miriam is uniquely positioned to assume this role,” said Dr. Timothy Huebner, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “She will make an immediate impact.”
Under the supervision of Dr. Elizabeth Thomas, dean for faculty development, Clinton will lead efforts to mentor faculty and work closely with the faculty-led artificial intelligence (AI) Task Force in exploring generative AI, augmented reality, virtual reality, natural language processing, and other emerging technologies within a liberal arts context.
In addition, Clinton will lead faculty conversations around the ethics and value of emerging technologies and will work with Information Services to develop a strategic vision for teaching and technology in classrooms, labs, studios, and beyond.
“I am excited to support the Rhodes faculty by researching technological advancements that can enable us to reach out to our students in new ways and by working to bring the best of those new technologies to our college,” said Clinton. “We have such talented teachers on campus, and this Mellon fellowship can allow us as an institution to help them do what they do even better.”
During the past two years, Dr. Eric Henager has served as a Mellon Academic Leadership Fellow and as Associate Dean for Global Initiatives. He will transition out of his role as fellow and associate dean this summer.