Gene Andrew Jarrett facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gene Andrew Jarrett
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| Born | April 21, 1975 New York City, U.S.
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| Education | Princeton University (AB) Brown University (AM, PhD) |
| Organization | Princeton University |
| Title | Dean of the Faculty and William S. Tod Professor of English |
| Predecessor | Sanjeev Kulkarni |
| Awards | Walter Jackson Bate Fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University; ACLS Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies; Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism |
Gene Andrew Jarrett (born April 21, 1975) is an American professor, writer, and university leader. He is currently the Dean of the Faculty and a Professor of English at Princeton University.
Before working at Princeton, Professor Jarrett was a dean and professor at New York University. He also taught at Boston University and the University of Maryland, College Park.
Professor Jarrett has written three books about African American literature. He has also edited or co-edited eight other books on the topic. He is the main editor for the Oxford Bibliographies section on African American Studies. He has won several awards for his work, including the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Gene Andrew Jarrett was born on April 21, 1975, in New York City. His parents were immigrants from Jamaica. They taught him the importance of hard work and getting a good education. He remembers his father saying, "the harder you work, the luckier you get."
Jarrett went to Stuyvesant High School in New York. There, he was interested in both English and Math. He learned to work hard and stay focused, even when things were tough. He enjoyed being around other students who loved learning.
In 1993, Jarrett started college at Princeton University. He studied English and also earned special certificates in American Studies, African American Studies, and Applied and Computational Mathematics. He wrote a long paper about the novels of William Faulkner. He was especially interested in African American studies because it helped him understand his own background.
While at Princeton, he was part of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program. This program helped him connect with other scholars. He was also inspired by his professors, like Cornel West, Arnold Rampersad, and the famous writer Toni Morrison. Toni Morrison was one of his teachers and even wrote a letter of recommendation for him. He said she helped him get to where he is today.
After graduating from Princeton, Jarrett received a special fellowship. He then went to Brown University to earn his doctorate degree in English. He finished his studies in 2002.
Teaching and Professor Roles
After finishing his doctorate, Professor Jarrett became an assistant professor of English. He chose to start his teaching career at the University of Maryland, College Park in 2002. He quickly became a tenured professor there by the age of 32. This means he earned a permanent teaching position.
Later, Boston University offered him a job as a tenured professor. He taught in the English Department and the African American Studies Program. By age 36, he became a full professor, which is a very high rank. After ten years at Boston University, he moved to New York University. There, he became a Professor of English and a dean.
Leading in Universities
Professor Jarrett has held many important leadership roles in universities. At the Boston University College of Arts and Sciences, he led the African American Studies program for a time. He also served as the Chair of the English Department and as an Associate Dean for the Humanities.
As an Associate Dean, he spoke to government leaders in Washington D.C. He asked them to provide more money for humanities programs. He explained that these programs help support not only university studies but also public libraries and museums. These places help educate children and adults in communities.
He also helped lead a group at Boston University that worked to make the university more diverse and welcoming for professors. This group talked to many faculty and staff members. Their work led to the university hiring new leaders focused on diversity and inclusion.
In June 2017, Professor Jarrett became the Seryl Kushner Dean of the College of Arts and Science (CAS) at NYU. In this role, he helped set academic standards for students. He also worked to create new academic programs and raise money to make higher education more accessible.
Under his leadership, CAS started new degrees in data science. They also partnered with the NYU Stern School of Business to offer a special program for students interested in business. NYU CAS also won a grant to improve science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education.
In 2021, he became the Dean of the Faculty at Princeton University. He started this new role on August 1, 2021.
Scholarly Work and Books
Professor Jarrett's first book, Deans and Truants: Race and Realism in African American Literature, was published in 2007. In this book, he explored how readers might judge a book based on the author's race. He looked at how writers of color have faced challenges in showing racial experiences in their stories.
His next book, Representing the Race: A New Political History of African American Literature (2011), looked at common ideas about African American political movements.
Professor Jarrett recently published Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird in 2022. This book is a detailed story about the life of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Dunbar was an important African American poet from the early 1900s. To help him write this book, Jarrett received special fellowships from Harvard University and the American Council of Learned Societies.
His biography of Dunbar won the 2024 Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism. This is a major award for literary criticism. The award committee praised Jarrett's work for showing the challenges Dunbar faced. They noted how the idea of "racial authenticity" became like "a cage" for the poet.
Besides his own books, Professor Jarrett has edited or co-edited eight other books. These include the Wiley-Blackwell Anthology of African American Literature. This is a large collection of African American writings for students. He is also the main editor for Oxford Bibliographies in African American Studies. This online resource provides information about many areas of African American studies.
Awards and Recognitions
- Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism, 2024
- ACLS Fellowship, American Council of Learned Societies, 2014
- Walter Jackson Bate Fellowship in English Literature, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, 2010
- Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in Humanistic Studies, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, 1997
Personal Life
Gene Andrew Jarrett is married to Renée Boynton-Jarrett. She is a professor at Boston University School of Medicine. She is a doctor who specializes in children's health and also studies how social factors affect health. She is the founder of the Vital Village Community Engagement Network.
Gene and Renée met when they were both first-year students at Princeton University. They got engaged there and married in 1997. They have two daughters and a son.
