Assistant Professor
University of South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina

Loron Benton 07C is an assistant professor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies in the McCausland College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Carolina. A dedicated educator with more than 15 years of experience, she creates learning environments that are both inclusive and transformative.

After earning a degree in English and women’s studies at Emory, Benton began her career as a middle school reading teacher. She completed a master’s degree in women’s studies at Georgia State University, where she received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award. She went on to earn a PhD in gender studies from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Her most recent article, “Dripping in Molasses: Black Feminist Nostalgia and Kara Walker’s A Subtlety,” appears in Cultural Studies Journal. Benton has been recognized as a Mellon Fellow at Case Western Reserve University and as an inaugural Bridge to Faculty Scholar at the University of South Carolina.

Her research focuses on Black women’s cultural production and political traditions in the 20th and 21st centuries, feminist theory, womanist theology, and studies of pleasure and joy — interests first nurtured during her time at Emory.