Michael Hanchard, professor and chair of Africana studies, has been named Gustave C. Kuemmerle Professor of Africana Studies. Before coming to Penn in 2015, Dr. Hanchard was the SOBA Presidential Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University, where he directed the Racism, Immigration and Citizenship Program and served as Chair of the Provost’s Advisory Committee. 

Dr. Hanchard’s distinguished scholarship in comparative racial politics is widely recognized. He is the author of four books, including Party/Politics: Horizons in Black Political Thought and The Spectre of Race: How Discrimination Haunts Western Democracy, and many other publications. His research has received support from the Ford and MacArthur Foundations and from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is working on a new book, which examines the relationship between fascism and racial rule in contemporary politics.

Upon his death in 1957, Gustave C. Kuemmerle (C’1898) left in excess of $4 million—the bulk of his estate—to Penn (Almanac November 1957). Known throughout his life as a devoted friend of Penn, he stipulated that his gift be used at the discretion of the trustees, who created this professorship with part of his bequest.