Rico Devara Chapman

Rico Devara Chapman currently serves as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and professor of history in the Department of History and Philosophy at Jackson State University (JSU). Before taking on this role, he was a professor of history in the Department of African American Studies, Africana Women’s Studies and History at Clark Atlanta University (CAU) where he also served as assistant dean for the School of Arts and Sciences and director of the Humanities PhD program. At CAU Chapman founded the Center for Africana Digital Humanities. Chapman’s academic journey includes earning his BS and MA in history from Jackson State University and a PhD in African Studies from Howard University. His scholarly work is rich and varied, with research interests that span student movements, public history and digital humanities. His academic and professional pursuits are deeply intertwined with the African diaspora’s historical and contemporary struggles for justice, particularly focusing on student activism both in the United States and South Africa. Notably, Chapman has been named a Fulbright US Scholar Program award recipient in 2024 with affiliation at the University of the Witwatersrand. He has secured funding and directed multiple grant projects from various agencies, such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the National Park Service, the Microsoft Corporation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In addition to his book Student Resistance to Apartheid at the University of Fort Hare: Freedom Now, A Degree Tomorrow, he has a number of published articles and book chapters.