The College of Charleston announced today that Antonio D. Tillis has been named the new dean of the School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs. Tillis will join the College on July 1.
Tillis comes to the College of Charleston from Dartmouth College, where he has served as chair of African and African-American Studies. While at Dartmouth, he also served on the Faculty Strategic Planning Advisory Committee and associated working groups on pedagogy, teaching and mentorship, and global Dartmouth.
“Dr. Tillis brings to the College of Charleston an exceptionally strong record of scholarly accomplishments complemented by outstanding leadership experiences in Latin American and Latino Studies and African and African-American Studies,” says College of Charleston Provost George Hynd. “His wide-ranging international experience, particularly in regard to facilitating study abroad opportunities for students, will serve him well as he works with the faculty, students, staff and advisory board members in the School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs. His experience, collaborative energy and vision will serve him well as he begins his tenure as the new dean of the School of Language, Cultures, and World Affairs.”
Prior to Dartmouth, Tillis served as the inaugural director of Latin American and Latino Studies and as Director of Undergraduate and Graduate Studies and Study Abroad for African-American Studies at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
An active and engaged scholar, Tillis has published a monograph, Manuel Zapata Olivella and the ‘Darkening’ of Latin American Literature, a critical bilingual work, Caribbean African, Upon Awakening, the Poetry of Blas Jiménez, and two edited volumes. His first book has been translated into Portuguese and published by the State University of Rio de Janeiro Press, Brazil, and he is currently completing a book-length manuscript on the works of Dominican-American writers Angie Cruz, Nelly Rosario, Loida Martiza Peréz, and Junot Diaz.
“I am simply delighted to join students, distinguished colleagues, staff and administrators at the College of Charleston,” says Tillis. “I look forward to adding my competencies as a teacher-scholar-administrator toward making an already intellectually dynamic College and School, even more stimulating.”
Tillis is past president of the College Language Association, founded in 1937 for African-American scholars of English and foreign languages, and serves on numerous editorial boards in his field. He is a former Fulbright Scholar to Brazil and is co-editor of the series “Black Diaspora Worlds: Origins and Evolutions from New World Slaving” with Lexington Publishing, a division of Rowan and Littlefield. He holds a B.S. from Vanderbilt University, an M.A. in Spanish literature from Howard University and a Ph.D. in Latin American literature with an Afro-Hispanic emphasis from the University of Missouri at Columbia.
