Valerie N. Matthews, Ph.D., is an interim associate department chair and professor of English at Georgia State University’s Perimeter College. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Tougaloo College, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) located in Jackson, Miss. She earned her Master of Arts and doctorate in English with a major in African American literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with further study at Emory University. Dr. Matthews is a recipient of the Georgia State University Kavita K. Pandit Mentoring Excellence Award and the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) Teaching Excellence Award. For more than two decades, she has passionately and creatively taught composition and African American literature at Perimeter College. Dr. Matthews routinely combines her musical talents and literary training to enhance her classes and perform at community events, churches and conferences regarding the nexus between African American literature and music. She is also a published scholar in her field. Her most recent publication is a book chapter entitled “Outfoxing the Foxes: Revising Mammy as Subversive Social Justice in Frank Yerby’s ‘The Foxes of Harrow,’” which appears in “Black Popular Culture and Social Justice: Beyond the Culture” (Routledge 2023). Dr. Matthews is an avid gospel, jazz and R & B musician in her spare time, and she loves supporting the endeavors of her son and daughter, who are also talented musicians.
