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Boards & Patrons

Board of Directors

The purpose of the Ernest J. Gaines Center Board of Directors is to further the goals of the mission of the Center. The members strive to accomplish this by holding meetings regarding the status of the Center, raise and distribute funds as the Board deems appropriate, and to generally maintain and expand access to and acquisitions for the Center to the best of its ability. All functions of the Board shall be dependent on the approval, when necessary, by the appropriate authority of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the University of Louisiana Foundation, the Provost, the President of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette or any other person or entity without which approval the action of the Board cannot be implemented.

  • Dianne Gaines, Esq.
  • Marcia Gaudet, Professor of English Emerita, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
  • Jordan Kellman, Dean, College of Liberal Arts, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
  • Barbara Kinchen, Community Representative
  • Taniecea Arcenaeux Mallery, Community Representative
  • Alex "Poetic Soul" Johnson, Community Representative
  • Brian Doherty, Dean of the University Libraries, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
  • Cheylon Woods, Associate Professor and Archivist and Head of the Ernest J. Gaines Center
  • Michelle Vallot, Founder/President of Zydeco Foods, LLC & Esq.

Advisory Board of Gaines Scholars

  • Dr. John Callahan, Morgan S. Odell Professor of Humanities, Lewis & Clark College
  • Dr. Wiley Cash, Author
  • Dr. Keith Clark, Professor of English and African and African American Studies, George Mason University
  • Dr. Denise Linton, Assistant Professor of Nursing & President, Black Faculty and Staff Association, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
  • Dr. John Lowe, Barbara Lester Methvin Professor of Southern Literature, University of Georgia
  • Dr. Charles Vincent, Professor of History, Southern University
  • Jennifer Morrison, Assistant Professor (Englsih), Southern University, New Orleans
  • William Ferris, National Endowment for the Humanitites (Retired)

Founding Patrons

  • David & Cindy Barry
  • Darrell and Karen Bourque
  • Charles & Bridget Boustany
  • H. Gordon Brooks
  • Dorothy Brown
  • Wiley Cash
  • Walter & Ann Dobie
  • Marcia Gaudet
  • Harold & Phebe Hayes
  • Ernest & Barbara Kinchen
  • James Lambert
  • Charles Richard
  • Joseph Sanford
  • Morris Taft Thomas
  • Charles Triche, III
  • Reggie Scott Young
  • Joanna Wurtele
  • Friends of the Humanities
  • Friends of Edith Garland Dupré Library
  • Invensys
  • NRG Energy