New University Professorship to be named for crusader Ida B. Wells-Barnett

When it comes to issues of race, class, gender and ethnicity, he calls it like he sees it.

A man of many titles—professor, author, hip-hop scholar—Michael Eric Dyson will bring his unique vision to Chicago next fall when he fills DePaul’s first university-wide professorship.

Dyson, 40, is leaving his post as visiting distinguished professor of African-American studies at Columbia University in New York to assume a new role at DePaul. As the inaugural Ida B. Wells-Barnett University Professor, Dyson will teach, collaborate with faculty on their teaching and scholarship, mentor students and contribute to the debate on race, black culture and social justice. "His role as a public intellectual will give DePaul a national voice on these issues," said Richard J. Meister, executive vice president for academic affairs.

A sought-after speaker and cultural critic, Dyson identifies himself as a public moralist and a social ethicist. "A public moralist makes ethical claims in light of one’s faith, identifying what the public should embrace, denouncing injustice, discussing the character of American life and the global characteristic of human existence," he said. "A social ethicist is someone concerned about the moral character of public debate and moral activity, someone who applies intellectual scrutiny to society."

Dyson challenges his audiences’ perspectives and beliefs, on occasion shocking listeners with street slang or phrases from hip-hop music. A Baptist minister, he mixes liturgy, lecture and lyrics into more than 200 public speeches annually. "I preach. I teach. I write. I lecture. Sometimes I rap. It is enormously important not to be limited."

Meister said, "Through his scholarship and public speaking, Dyson has an extraordinary ability to link the spiritual with the intellectual. On his visits to DePaul, he showed that he not only cares for students, but that he can motivate them. Both reflect DePaul’s basic values." Linking scholars with larger social issues and the urban community is a primary goal of DePaul’s new Humanities Center, with which Dyson will be associated.

A graduate of Carson-Newman College, Dyson earned his master’s and doctorate in religion from Princeton University. Since 1994 he has served as professor of communication studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He has also held faculty positions at the Chicago Theological Seminary and Brown University. He is the author of a number of highly acclaimed books, including "Between God and Gangsta Rap" (1996), "Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line" (1996) and "Making Malcolm: the Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X" (1995). DePaul created the university professorship as the first in a series of distinguished positions to engage the public in issues that will foster a more just, humane urban society. Recently, DePaul has made strategic investments to enhance its distinctive mission and academic quality. Dyson’s new position is among them.

Wells-Barnett was selected as the professorship’s namesake to recognize the significance of her voice on behalf of African Americans. "She is ideal because she was a pioneering journalist, activist, leader and public intellectual whose written words and bold actions galvanized black communities across this nation to defend themselves in the face of violence," Dyson said. "I consider it an honor to uphold the high principals of scholarship, journalism, activism and political insurgence that her name suggests."

Two of her grandsons are DePaul graduates, Benjamin C. Duster, who received a DePaul law degree in 1954 and Donald L. Duster, who earned an MBA in 1977.

Dyson will be based in DePaul’s religious studies department as a tenured professor.