Dr. Lisa Covington is an Inaugural Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Arizona in the Department of Africana Studies & The Center for Digital Humanities. She completed her Ph.D. at The University of Iowa studying the Sociology of Education with certificates in Digital Humanities and African American Studies. During her time at the University of Iowa, she earned eight prestigious fellowships, including the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Fellow, Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio Fellow and Obermann Center for Advanced Studies Senior
Fellow.
For her work as a community engaged scholar and applied sociologist, Dr. Covington was the recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Achievement Award from the State of Iowa Human Rights Commission.
Dr. Covington research incorporates triangulatory methodology to investigate Black youth in film and media representations and accompanying ideologies. As an Inaugural Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Covington examines the progression of Black girl characters to better understand the role of film and social institutions. The fellowship work will focus on expanding her sociological research on Black girls in film and the development of a digital database to serve as a public facing platform for community members and scholars. Lisa views this work as the first phase of her larger research agenda of Black girlhoods, specifically, and Black childhoods at large.