Announcing the Interim Dean of Georgetown College

November 11, 2020

Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community:

I write to share an update with you regarding the leadership transition at Georgetown College. It is my pleasure to announce that Soyica Diggs Colbert, Ph.D. (C’01) has been appointed Interim Dean of Georgetown College. She will begin in this position on January 1, 2021.

Professor Colbert currently serves as Vice Dean in the College. She is also the Idol Family Professor in the College, and serves as professor of African American Studies and Performing Arts. Throughout her time at Georgetown, Professor Colbert has demonstrated a deep commitment to service, taking on a number of leadership roles during her past seven years as a member of our community. In addition to her leadership as Vice Dean, she has also served as Chair of the Department of Performing Arts, Director of the Theater and Performance Studies Program, Director of Arts Initiatives, as a member of our Racial Justice Working Group, and more recently, as Chair of our Task Force on Gender Equity.

Professor Colbert is the author of two books: The African American Theatrical Body: Reception, Performance, and the Stage (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and Black Movements: Performance and Cultural Politics (Rutgers University Press, 2017). She edited a special issue of African American Review on Black Performance, and co-edited The Psychic Hold of Slavery: Legacies in American Expressive Culture (Rutgers University Press, 2016) and Race and Performance After Repetition (Duke University Press, 2020). Her scholarship has been recognized with a Schomburg Scholars-in-Residence Fellowship, Woodrow Wilson Foundation Career Enhancement Fellowship, Stanford Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship, Mellon Summer Research Grant, and the Robert W. Woodruff Library Fellowship.

Professor Colbert recently took on the role of Associate Director with Shakespeare Theatre Company, and has served as a dramaturg for productions at both Shakespeare Theatre Company and Arena Stage. She has been honored for her exceptional teaching and leadership with our Edward B. Bunn Award for Faculty Excellence, a Georgetown University Women in Leadership Award, and a Georgetown University Black Student Alliance Outstanding Faculty Award, among others.

Professor Colbert received a Bachelor of Arts from Georgetown, as well as an M.A. and Ph.D. from Rutgers University, New Brunswick.

Please join me in welcoming Professor Colbert to the role of Interim Dean and expressing our gratitude for sharing her leadership and expertise with our University community.

Sincerely,

John J. DeGioia