Culture | The Impact of A Different World

Join us for an engaging presentation by Dr. Tikenya Foster-Singletary, Humanities Program Director at Clark Atlanta University, where she explores the lasting impact of A Different World! Dr. Foster-Singletary will examine how the show's vibrant portrayal of Black college students sparked a measurable surge in HBCU enrollment and reshaped the way Black excellence was represented on American television. From Dwayne Wayne to Whitley Gilbert, A Different World was never just a sitcom. An experienced instructor and scholar, Dr. Foster-Singletary has research interests in African American literature, American literature, and television and popular culture. She teaches a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses in literature and writing. In addition, she is a frequent presenter at conferences by the College Language Association and the Popular Culture Association of the South. Her work has been published in MAWA Review, Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora, and Southern Quarterly; her essays on literature and television have been included in a number of essay collections. She is co-editor of an edited volume focused on the work of playwright and novelist Pearl Cleage entitled Pearl Cleage and Free Womanhood. Published by McFarland Press, the collection features essays on the writer's prose work as well as an interview. It is the only book-length consideration of Cleage's work. In 2019 Dr. Foster-Singletary was selected as a Georgia Governor's Teaching Fellow. She is Co-PI for a NEH Spotlight on the Humanities Grant.