Chawne Kimber

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Chawne Kimber
Born1971 (age 49–50)
NationalityAmerican
TitleDean of the College
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Florida
Doctoral advisorJorge Martinez
Academic work
DisciplineMathematics
InstitutionsWashington and Lee University
Lafayette College
Wesleyan College

Chawne Monique Kimber (/ʃɔːn/ SHAWN;[1] born 1971)[2] is an African-American mathematician and quilter,[3] known for expressing her political activism in her quilts.[4][5] She was a professor at Lafayette College, where she headed the department of mathematics.[6] Kimber is now the Dean of the College at Washington and Lee University.[7]

Education and career[]

Kimber comes from a family of cotton farmers and quilters in Alabama.[5][8] Although she writes that she "always loved math", she began her undergraduate studies at the University of Florida by studying engineering before switching to mathematics because she found it more fulfilling.[9] She earned a master's degree at the University of North Carolina in 1995, as a student of Idris Assani.[10] She returned to the University of Florida for doctoral studies, completing her Ph.D. in 1999. Her dissertation, Prime Ideals in Rings of Continuous Functions, connects abstract algebra with functional analysis and was supervised by Jorge Martinez.[11]

After a term as Van Vleck Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Wesleyan College, she joined Lafayette College as an assistant professor.[10] In mathematics, she is known for incorporating concepts of social justice into her classroom teaching.[9][12] She was a Professor and then head of the Math Department.[13] In 2008, she along with Professor Sharon Jones began the Summer Program to Advance Leadership in STEM at Lafayette.[14] This six-week program where incoming students take college level writing and calculus address along with modules in STEM. Students are those who are identified as leaders from groups typically underrepresented in STEM fields.[15] In 2018, Kimber was one of six recipients of the prestigious Clare Booth Luce Scholarship to attend the HERS (Higher Education Resource Services) Institute.[16] While head of the Math Department, the department "worked to promote an inclusive culture based on the understanding that math is a gateway to many other fields in the sciences, technology and engineering".[17]

In May 2021, Washington and Lee University announced that Kimber would become the school's Dean of the College effective July 1, 2021.[7][18] She is responsible "for 21 departments and 13 interdisciplinary programs. The dean serves as chair of the Committee on Courses and Degrees and belongs to the Faculty Executive Committee. The dean reports to the provost and serves on the Provost’s Academic Council as well as the President’s Council".[7]

Quilting[]

Kimber began quilting in 2005, soon after completing her application for tenure at Lafayette, and her interest in quilting was renewed in 2007 by the death of her father. In 2008 she began creating highly politicized quilts and blogging about them,[8] beginning with a series of quilts inspired by George Carlin's seven dirty words and by racist and sexist graffiti on her college campus.[19][20] Her work has been associated with the "modern Quilting" movement, based on its geometric design and provocative content.[21] Her work includes varied subject matter that raise social issues including the killing of African Americans and sexual assault.[19]

Kimber's quilts are frequently included at quilting shows and museum exhibits of quilting. The Paul Mellon Arts Center put up a show of her works in 2018.[8][22] One of her quilts inspired by the death of Eric Garner won first place at QuiltCon West in 2016,[5] and was included with other pieces by Kimber in a show on "Quilts and Human Rights" at the Pick Museum of Anthropology at Northern Illinois University.[23] As well as quilting, Kimber has also exhibited quilting-inspired works of mathematical origami.[24][25]

References[]

  1. ^ "The Beautiful Mind of Chawne Kimber - MQG Community", community.themodernquiltguild.com
  2. ^ Birth year from WorldCat identities, retrieved 2019-09-22
  3. ^ Lamb, Evelyn (October 11, 2018), "Math, Quilting and Activism: Mathematician Chawne Kimber shares her favorite theorems and quilts that make a statement", Scientific American
  4. ^ Hlohowskyj, Maria (February 2, 2017), "The Colorful, Radical Quilts of Chawne Kimber", Women Arts
  5. ^ a b c Gelt, Jessica (February 20, 2016), "These quilts with messages about gun violence and racial injustice issues aim to discomfort", Los Angeles Times
  6. ^ Chawne Kimber, Lafayette College, retrieved 2018-10-11
  7. ^ a b c "Chawne Kimber Named Dean of the College at Washington and Lee University". The Columns (Press release). 2021-05-05. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  8. ^ a b c Neitz, Katie (Summer 2018), "Beautiful and Powerful: Prof. Chawne Kimber stitches messaging about censorship, social injustice, and racism into layers of colorful cotton", Lafayette Magazine, Lafayette College
  9. ^ a b Lum, Lydia (May 3, 2011), "Scholar Combines Math and Social Justice in the Classroom", Diverse: Issues in Higher Education
  10. ^ a b Williams, Scott W., "Chawne Kimber", Black Women in Mathematics, University at Buffalo, retrieved 2018-10-11
  11. ^ Chawne Kimber at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  12. ^ Grose, Ben (October 28, 2013), "Adding Diversity to Curricula, Starting in the Classrooms", The Chronicle of Higher Education
  13. ^ Kimber, Chawnee, "Math Department", Lafayette College
  14. ^ "Featuring the summer program to Advance Leadership in STEM @ LAfayette", Lafayette College Center for the Integration of Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship, October 31, 2019
  15. ^ "Advancing Leadership and Social Justice", Lafayette McDonough Report, Winter 2009
  16. ^ "Lafayette STEM Stars", Lafayette College News, 5 November 2018, retrieved 2 June 2020
  17. ^ Flaherty, Colleen (November 19, 2019). "Mathematician comes out against mandatory diversity statements, while others say they continue to be useful -- with some caveats". www.insidehighered.com. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  18. ^ Brantley, Max (2021-06-04). "Another win for the Lost Cause: Washington and Lee University won't change its name". Arkansas Times. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  19. ^ a b Dampier, Cindy (April 4, 2017), "Uniting politically divided quilters, stitch by stitch", Chicago Tribune
  20. ^ May, Rachel (2014), "Chawne Kimber: How Words Matter", Quilting with a Modern Slant: People, Patterns, and Techniques Inspiring the Modern Quilt Community, Storey Publishing, pp. 82–83, ISBN 9781612120638
  21. ^ Cox, Meg (May 9, 2013), "'Modern Quilters' Stress Simplicity, Edgy Subjects: Quilting's new-wave movement focuses on provocative material; fury at the 'F' word", The Wall Street Journal
  22. ^ Bocek, Sasha (January 26, 2018), "Not Your Grandmother's Quilt: Chawne Kimber's Radical Knits", The Choate News
  23. ^ "Pick Museum unveils quilt exhibit with a visit from Reverend Jesse L. Jackson Sr.", NIU Today, Northern Illinois University, September 25, 2017
  24. ^ "Chawne Kimber and Ethan Berkove: Weaves and Whorls", Mathematical Art Galleries: 2014 Joint Mathematics Meetings, The Bridges Organization, 2014, retrieved 2018-10-11
  25. ^ Bruce, Kathy; Okaya, Michiko (2013), Crease, Fold, and Bend (PDF), Lafayette Art Galleries, p. 18

External links[]

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