Sheilah Clarke-Ekong, associate professor of anthropology at UMSL, has been named the director of General Education and chair of the General Education Committee. (Photo by August Jennewein)

Sheilah Clarke-Ekong has long been a standout as an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Going forward, she will play a larger role in helping shape general education at the university.

Clarke-Ekong has been named the director of General Education and chair of the General Education Committee. This appointment reports to Glen Hahn Cope, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at UMSL.

“We are fortunate that ‘Dr. E’ is willing to turn her attention toward general education to benefit our students and faculty,” Cope said.

Clarke-Ekong said she is grateful for the confidence that this latest campus assignment represents.

“I am excited by the possibilities in front of us and the potential within us to make general education a memorable experience at UMSL,” she said. “By day two, I realized I would be getting a lot less sleep and spending a lot more time working on and with data and meeting with colleagues, administrators and hopefully students who are interested in moving our general education arena forward.”

She welcomes the opportunity to work with UMSL students on expanding their own horizons. She looks forward to being part of a committee that will make a difference for students by helping provide them with innovative options.

“There is an incredible student-advocate-focused group of faculty, staff and administrators who understand the challenges and have agreed to serve on our General Education Committee,” she said.

Clarke-Ekong is a former interim dean of the Evening College at UMSL. She has served as department chair of anthropology and interim chair of sociology before the departments were combined into the Department of Anthropology, Sociology and Languages. As an anthropologist she has done research in Africa on family patterns and customs.