Commission Members

Hon. Anthony R. Foxx '93, Chair

Anthony Foxx served as United States Secretary of Transportation from 2013 until the end of the Obama presidency in January 2017. He was mayor of Charlotte from 2009-13 after serving as a member of Charlotte's City Council from 2005 until his election as mayor. At Davidson, Anthony majored in history and was a Davidson Scholar, hall counselor and Davidson's first African-American student body president. He was also a member of the Honor Council, Student Conduct Council, Project Life and the Union Board. Anthony earned his JD at New York University. He served as an at-large member of the Board of Trustees from 2009 until his July 2013 resignation as a result of his new role as U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

Read the 2018 message from the Honorable Anthony R. Foxx on the announcement of the commission members.

Dr. Bill Andrews '68

The E. Maynard Adams Professor of English, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Bill is an expert in African-American literature, Southern literature and North American slave narratives. In 2007, he received an honorary doctor of letters from Davidson. His latest book, Slavery and Class in the Antebellum South: A Generation of Slave Narrative Testimony, 1840-1865, is in press from Oxford University Press.

Marlene Arellano '17

Marlene is an admission counselor who, as an anthropology and Latin American studies double major at Davidson, was a QuestBridge and Charles Scholar, co-chair of the Student Initiative for Academic Diversity (SIAD), member of the President's Diversity Advisory Committee, and an Education Scholar with the Levine Museum of the New South's exhibition titled iNUEVOlution!: Latinos and the New South.

Jan Blodgett

Jan served as the college archivist and records management coordinator from 1994 until her retirement in 2017. Under her leadership, "Always Part of the Fabric," a documentary about the many contributions of African-Americans to Davidson College, was created. She is co-author of the book One Town, Many Voices: A History of Davidson, North Carolina and is a former president of the Davidson Historical Society.

Dr. Laurian R. Bowles

Laurian is a cultural and visual anthropologist whose research focuses on mobility and migration in Africa and the African Diaspora. Using research methodologies in photography and visual storytelling, Laurian examines issues related to gender, labor, and power in Ghana as well as the United States. Laurian is a member of the Anthropology Department, a core faculty member of Africana Studies, and the Resident Director of the Davidson in Ghana Program. She earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Temple University in 2011

Dr. Richard Boyce '77

A member of the Davidson College Board of Trustees, Richard is the Academic Dean and an Associate Professor of Preaching and Pastoral Leadership at the Charlotte campus of Union Presbyterian Seminary. Richard is a Presbyterian minister in the PC (USA) and a former mayor of Belmont. He helped found the Gaston Clergy Citizen Coalition (GC3), an interdenominational and interracial group of clergy and citizens in Gaston County. 

Marvin Brandon

Marvin is a Davidson native, chairman of the Board of Trustees at Gethsemane Baptist Church and a member of the Board of Directors for the Ada Jenkins Center. He assists with the Town of Davidson Civics 101 class. A 31-year Army veteran, he retired as a manager with AT&T. He is a graduate of Urbana University, in Ohio, a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and is a 32nd degree Prince Hall Mason.

Dr. Byron P. McCrae

Byron is Davidson's vice president for student life and dean of students, a post he also has held at Hampshire College and Washington & Jefferson. While at Washington & Jefferson, he worked closely with efforts similar to the Davidson commission and helped create the Charles West Scholars program, established in the memory of one of W&J's most prominent black alumni.

Saidah Rahman '20

Saidah is a sophomore Sociology and Africana Studies double major. She is a member of SIAD (Student Initiative for Academic Diversity), serves as House Manager for the Black Student Coalition and is a 200m/400m sprinter on Davidson's track & field team. She was one of five Davidson/Stapleton interns working in realms of poverty and homelessness in Charlotte, NC, this past summer. She currently serves as a peer mentor for STRIDE (Students Together Reaching for Individual Development and Education).

Bry Reed '20

Bry is a sophomore Africana Studies major. She currently volunteers at West Charlotte High School where she facilitates sessions on empowerment, politics, and mental health. On campus, Bry serves as chairperson of the Social Events Committee for the Black Student Coalition.

Tim Saintsing '98

Tim is the executive director of Learning Labs at the Relay Graduate School of Education, a 4,000-student graduate school launched in 2010 to help prepare teachers and principals to be successful with low-income students in urban areas. Tim started the nation's first all-boys charter school serving students in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Tim serves on the college's Board of Visitors and is a former admission counselor for the college.

Jonathan Sheperd-Smith '17

Jonathan is a 2nd year Teach For America corps member at West Charlotte High School. He serves on Davidson’s JEC Advisory Council. At Davidson, Jonathan majored in Anthropology and minored in Economics, was a Bonner Scholar, a Terry Fellow, and a captain on the football team. He also founded the DuBoisian World Scholars Society, a student service organization that utilizes education as a platform for social change on Charlotte’s historic westside

Janet Stovall '85

A campus leader as a student, Janet has been engaged with Davidson passionately over the years. She's hosted alumni and parent events at her home in Atlanta, taught race-focused seminars and initiated workshops, co-chaired her class reunion committee, and served on the college's Board of Visitors and as past chair of the Davidson Black Alumni Network. She served as a co-chair for the spring 2018 Black Alumni Reunion and is the parent of Maia Harrell ‘20. Janet was elected to the Board of Trustees and will begin her term January 2021.

Dr. Rose Stremlau

Rose is a historian who uses ethnohistorical methodology to study families using data gathered from genealogical sources. In her courses at Davidson College, she teaches students how to apply these tools to the records created in our own community. In a recent women's history course, students engaged in a revealing project on gender and slavery based on the personal letters of Mary Lacy, wife of Davidson College President Rev. Drury Lacy. (Drury Lacy served as president of the college from 1855-1860.) Rose is a member of the History Department and core faculty in Gender and Sexuality Studies. She earned her Ph.D. in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006.