Black Alumni & Student Connect Weekend

Interim Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Distinguished Professor of Black Studies and MacArthur Foundation Chair

"Embracement"

Dr. Jeffrey C. Stewart H’19 is a professor of Black Studies at UC Santa Barbara, since 2007, when he was hired as Chair of the Department of Black Studies, a position he served in until 2016. During his tenure as chair he advanced a number of on campus projects, including the North Hall 1968 Takeover Display, which opened in 2015, and Jeffrey’s Jazz Coffeehouse, which opened in 2016, an immersive pop-up jazz experience in Isla Vista to accompany his course, The History of Jazz.

Jeffrey’s most recent book is The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke, published by Oxford University Press, 2018. It is one of the few books of history that has won the 2018 National Book Award for Nonfiction and the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

In 2019 Jeffrey was the recipient of the UC Santa Barbara Alumni Honorary Alumni Award.

In 2021 Jeffrey was appointed as a MacArthur Foundation Chair. The professorship will be supported by a $1 million endowment for a five-year term, and the annual earnings on those funds will finance a range of activities. The project, “A New Eden in Southern California: Promoting Black and Brown Futures in Resilient Communities,” will include scholarly research, artistic projects and performances, and inclusive off-campus programs.

In January 2022, Jeffrey was appointed Interim Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.