Deborah Whaley, professor of English and African American Studies, was one of seven scholars chosen for the HistoryMakers 2021 Faculty Innovation in Pedagogy and Teaching fellowships.

Whaley's course, "Digitizing Blackness," will feature the HistoryMakers Digital Archive as a resource and include discussion on digital humanities and new information technologies, Afrofuturism, gaming, augmented and virtual reality, digital mapping, podcasting, social media, and digital subcultures. Students will learn digital tools and methods and will produce a digital portfolio and give an oral presentation.

In its second year, the HistoryMakers fellowship is designed to foster classroom innovation and teaching and diversify curricula while furthering student learning and research skills. Award recipients receive $7,500 and the opportunity to demonstrate how faculty can creatively incorporate the HistoryMakers Digital Archive into a semester course and syllabus. 

In addition to her professorship, Whaley is an artist, curator, writer, and poet. From 2017 to 2020, she served as senior scholar for Digital Arts and Humanities for UI Libraries’ Digital Scholarship and Publishing Studio, where she was an ambassador and liaison for the digital humanities, as well as director of the Public Digital Humanities graduate certificate. Currently, she is an administrative fellow in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Office of the Dean.