McAndless Distinguished Professor Chair

Dr. Joey Quiñones Is the 2024-25 McAndless Professor

Dr. Joey Quiñones

Dr. Joey Quiñones

Eastern Michigan University College of Arts and Science is proud to announce that Dr. Joey Quiñones is the 2024-25 McAndless Distinguished Professor Chair in the Humanities. 

Dr. Joey Quiñones, a nationally recognized artist and scholar, and the Head of Fiber at Cranbrook Academy of Art, joins EMU as a visiting professor, and will present several campus-wide and community events from September 2024 to April 2025.

Quiñones is engaging with EMU through the Marking Place project, launching in Fall 2024 at Eastern Michigan University. The Marking Place project includes a series of discussions, interactive assignments, public lectures, an ekphrastic poetry reading, major exhibitions and use of the Windgate Arts Complex on our north campus. Activities will include EMU faculty, students and the wider community of Ypsilanti. 

The starting point will be the study of the existing sculptures on EMU campus and throughout Ypsilanti to consider ways students can open dialogues and offer multiple narratives through art. “In the past decade, there has been substantial discussion on the role of statues, monuments, and memorials, and how they reflect (or don’t reflect) the people, histories, and events of a place,” says Dr. Quiñones. The Marking Place project invites students from all disciplines to consider: “What do we as a community need to remember? How do we honor multiple histories in a public space? And, what are alternatives to the idea of 'the monument'?"

Quiñones' mixed media sculptures focus broadly on issues of race, class, gender and sexuality, and recent work specifically examines how narratives of the domestic, family, and womanhood are complicated by a history of slavery, stolen labor, and racism. As a queer Black artist, Quiñones has a distinctive vantage point from which to probe these consequential issues, and indeed reflects the ideals of the CAS position on diversity, equity, and inclusion. While Quiñones’s work has achieved impressive recognition in the art world, we are excited by how their work and engagement at EMU will impact our uniquely diverse student body. Quiñones' Marking Place project will investigate local monuments and sculptures as a way of exploring multiple narratives – a direct reflection of EMU’s commitment “to more fully account for the contributions or counter-narratives of previously neglected or marginalized groups."

EMU community members interested in participating in the program and instructors interested in integrating the Marking Place project into their winter 2025 classes may contact Associate Dean James Egge or Professor Margeaux Claude.

Photo credit: Kohler Co. Courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center

Schedule of Events

This schedule is in development and more events will be added. Unless otherwise noted, events are free and open to the public.

"Marking Place: Art, Artists, and Monumentality"

Thursday, October 24, 5:00 – 6:15 p.m.
Halle Library Auditorium

McAndless Visiting Professor Dr. Joey Quiñones will deliver the keynote lecture for the Marking Place project, which explores how statues, monuments, and memorials at EMU reflect the people, histories, and events of our University community.

Marking Place Exhibition

January 3-31
University Gallery, Student Center

A juried exhibit of works by EMU students and Dr. Quiñones will explore themes of memory and commemoration. Events will include an opening reception and an ekphrastic poetry reading.

Marking Place Sculpture Installation

March - April
EMU Campus

Sculptures by EMU and Cranbrook School of Arts graduate students will be temporarily installed on the EMU campus.

Nominations For the 2025-26 McAndless Chair Are Now Being Accepted

McAndless Distinguished Chair Nomination Form

Nominations are due November 1, 2024. Please see the form for more information.

  • About the McAndless Distinguished Professor Chair

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    Every year the M. Thelma McAndless Distinguished Professor Chair in the Humanities brings to the College of Arts and Sciences a visiting scholar, writer, or artist of national prominence in the arts or humanities. The chair was established in 1986 through a generous bequest from the late M. Thelma McAndless, Professor of English Language and Literature. 

  • McAndless Committee Members

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    Victor Okafor, Africology & African-American Studies
    Leslie Atzmon, Art & Design
    Jeromy Hopgood, Communication, Media & Theatre Arts
    Melissa Jones, English Language & Literature
    Steven Ramold, History & Philosophy
    Anderson Romero, Music & Dance
    Laura McMahon, Women's & Gender Studies
    Audrey Viguier, World Languages
    Andrew Cornett, Honors College
    James Egge, Dean's Office
  • Past McAndless Professors

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    2023 The Formosa Quartet
    2022 Petra Kuppers
    2021 Kevin Boyle
    2020 Jeremy Crampton, Claudia Hart, and Stephanie Kerschbaum
    2019 Corine Vermeulen
    2018 José Carlos Aguiar de Souza
    2016 Alison Kafer
    2015 Annette J. Saddik
    2014 Daniel Johnston
    2013 Laurie A. Finke
    2012 Evan Roth
    2011 Mark Carnes
    2010 Farzaneh Milani
    2009 Ali Mazrui
    2008 Marshall Poe
    2007 N. Scott Hofmann
    2006 Scott McCloud
    2005 Ben Vereen
    2003 Jayne Cortez
    2002 Cheryl Dileo
    2002 Gillian Eaton
    2000 Bouthaina Shaaban
    1999 Susan Tatershall
    1998 Roger W. Wilkins
    1996 Sarah Daniels
    1996 Tom Regan
    1995 Gwynne Dyer
    1993 Bei Dao
    1993 Nicholas Pennell
    1991 Sondra Freckelton
    1990 Kenneth Burke
    1990 Nancy Ford
    1988 Peter Strevens
    1988 Richard Hunt
    1986 Maxine Hong Kingston

 

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