Provost Dwight A. McBride will be Commencement speaker


Oxford College of Emory University holds commencements exercises each spring to honor Oxford students before they move to Emory University's Atlanta campus.

Oxford College announced today that Dwight A. McBride will deliver the keynote address at its 173rd commencement exercises on Saturday, May 12. McBride is Emory University’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

"Commencement at Oxford is a special observance, building on 180 years of history on our building quad to celebrate our students' accomplishments and send them off to the Atlanta campus," says Oxford College Dean Douglas A. Hicks. "It is especially meaningful to have Provost McBride address our students. He is an exceptional scholar, outstanding academic leader, valued Oxford supporter, and a believer in the seamless pathway between the Oxford and Atlanta campuses."

As Emory University's chief academic officer McBride is responsible for ensuring the quality of undergraduate, graduate, and professional education, and enhancing Emory's role as an academically eminent research university. McBride collaborates with university leaders to formulate academic priorities and policy, allocate resources appropriately, and oversee the faculty promotion and tenure process. In addition, McBride is the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of African American Studies, Distinguished Affiliated Professor of English, and associated faculty member in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Emory University.

McBride came to Emory in 2017 from Northwestern University, where he served as dean of the graduate school and associate provost for graduate education as well as the Daniel Hale Williams Professor of African American Studies, English, and Performance Studies. Previously, he served as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and on the University of Pittsburgh faculty.

He is a graduate of Princeton University, where he earned a BA in English and African American Studies. He holds both an MA and PhD in English from the University of California, Los Angeles.

A leading scholar of race and literary studies, McBride has published award-winning books, essays, articles, and edited volumes that examine connections between race theory, black studies, and identity politics. The Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities have supported his research.

McBride is co-founder and co-editor of the James Baldwin Review annual journal and co-editor of the New Black Studies Series at the University of Illinois Press. He is currently completing a book on Phillis Wheatley and her critics.