Reporting directly to the president, Munemo will serve as the chief academic officer and the primary voice of the faculty. He joins 51ÁÔÆæ from Williams College where he was professor of political science, chair of the Global Studies Program, and recently served as the interim vice president for institutional diversity, equity & inclusion.
“Ngoni is an outstanding teacher and scholar with broad administrative experience, and I am confident he will bring a fresh, critical perspective to our senior leadership group,” President Wippman said. “I look forward to working with him to support the academic program and the work of our faculty.”
Munemo joined the Williams faculty in 2007 as an assistant professor of political science. Promoted to associate professor in 2013 and professor in 2019, he has taught comparative politics, contemporary African politics, famine studies, political development, political economy, political violence, and democratization and institution building. He was previously a visiting instructor at the College of William and Mary.
Throughout his time at Williams, Munemo has served on a number of college committees, including the Academic Standing Committee, Williams in Africa, the Campus Environmental Advisory Committee, the Accreditation Self-Study Steering Committee, and the Ad Hoc Committee on the Evaluation of Teaching, among others. In 2015-16, he was chair of the Faculty Steering Committee, which is broadly and directly responsible for representing faculty concerns at Williams. He served as associate dean for institutional diversity, equity & inclusion from 2016 to 2020 and was interim vice president for institutional diversity, equity & inclusion from February to July 2021.
From 2014 to 2016, and again in 2020, Munemo was faculty director of the Summer Humanities and Social Sciences Program at Williams, a five-week program for incoming first-year students from underrepresented minority groups who may also be first-generation college students.
Munemo received his bachelor’s degree from Bard College in 2000; an M.A. in 2001 and an M.Phil in 2003, both in political science from Columbia University; and his Ph.D. from Columbia in 2008. He has published in a number of academic journals, given presentations and lectures at national and international conferences, and has two book-length projects in development.
“My colleagues and I are extraordinarily happy to see 51ÁÔÆæ recognize Ngoni’s talents as we do here,” said Williams President Maud S. Mandel. “In addition to his scholarly accomplishments, Ngoni has an exceptionally sophisticated understanding of the intrinsic connections between liberal arts excellence and shared governance. His far-reaching knowledge and strategic thinking are complemented by a thoughtful, gentle style and wonderfully wry sense of humor. His talents have enabled him to make a lasting mark at Williams, in areas from DEI work to academic policy and curricular planning. His colleagues admire him, his students adore him, and all of us will miss him dearly, even as we celebrate his progress to this important new role at 51ÁÔÆæ.”
At 51ÁÔÆæ the VPAA/DOF is charged with supporting faculty scholarship and development, promoting excellent teaching in the classroom, enhancing curricular innovation, incorporating diversity and inclusion across academic domains, supporting the academic success of students, and fostering 51ÁÔÆæ’s intellectual community. Munemo will sit on the president’s senior staff and hold a position as professor of government.
An 11-member search committee that included faculty, senior administrators, and a member of the Board of Trustees conducted the national search with assistance by executive search firm Isaacson Miller.
