Biography
Lerone A. Martin is the Associate Professor of Religion and Politics in the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in Saint Louis. Previously he was a member of the faculty at Eden Theological Seminary.
Martin is the author of the award-winning Preaching on Wax: The Phonograph and the Making of Modern African American Religion (New York University Press, 2014). The book received the 2015 first book award by the American Society of Church History.
In support of his research, Martin has received a number of nationally recognized fellowships, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, The American Council of Learned Societies, The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, Templeton Religion Trust, the Louisville Institute for the Study of American Religion, and the Forum for Theological Exploration.
Martin has also been recognized for his teaching, receiving grants and fellowships from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion.
His commentary and writing have been featured in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as well as CNN. He is currently writing a book on the relationship between the FBI and white evangelicals, to be published by Princeton University Press.
Candidate Statement
Our guild continues to face significant challenges. The current landscape of higher education and our increasingly global society has created tremendous hurdles and opportunities in our efforts foster excellence in the academic study of religion and to enhance public understanding of the same. The COVID-19 pandemic and all its related social and cultural issues has only exacerbated the predicament, particularly the most vulnerable AAR members: students, junior faculty, and contingent faculty.
I am seeking to serve as At-Large Director because my involvement in the AAR and broader professional experiences have prepared and equipped me to meet the challenges of teaching and learning religion in various contexts; hiring, employment, and promotion within our profession; and the future of the guild.
I thoroughly enjoy teaching. My career has been significantly shaped by wonderful teachers. I jumped at the chance to serve as a committee member and later chair of the AAR Teaching and Learning Committee. I was exposed to the various contextual pedagogical challenges and advancements in teaching within our profession. Moreover, I was privileged to award and learn from several recipients of the AAR Excellency in Teaching Award. Given the current landscape of higher education, it is imperative to have elite instruction.
Second, I am keenly aware and concerned about the vast employment challenges specifically facing our guild and the profession more broadly. At my home institution I serve as Director of an academic unit that awards undergraduate degrees, graduate certificates, and post docs. Moreover, I serve as a member of the AAR Hiring, Evaluation, and Promotion Task Force. The committee is charged with making recommendations bias in evaluation and hiring. We are also assigned to address and make recommendations regarding the shrinking job market, the reliance on adjunct labor, income inequality within the profession, as well as address the funding, training, and broader career opportunities for graduate students. Hearing the employment and evaluation trials of graduate students at my home institution and members of the AAR has given me unprecedented insight into this ever-broadening problem. I look forward to continually learning how the guild can and should respond.
My desire to address the challenges of our guild lead to my current service on the AAR Presidential Futures Task Force. The task force “will provide the AAR Board of Directors with a strategic assessment of the impact of the pandemic and exacerbated cultural issues on the AAR and its mission.” We will then offer suggestions, empowering the AAR to take proactive measures to meet the challenges of the guild, its mission, and long-term strategic goals.
The At-Large Directors “are charged to represent the needs and interests of the general AAR membership to the Board of Directors.” My service to the AAR and broader professional experiences have given me an expansive view of our guild. I am familiar with the diversity of experiences and challenges within our membership. I stand ready to listen to you, represent your concerns, and work not just for you, but also with you towards a better future.