Dr. Kenja McCray

Assistant Professor of History

Office: Arts & Sciences G214D
Humanities
College of Arts & Sciences
KenjaMccray@clayton.edu
Phone: (678) 466-4719

Biography

Kenja McCray is an Assistant Professor of History at Clayton State University. Originally from Birmingham, AL, she is a graduate of Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University. She earned a Ph.D. in history at Georgia State University (GSU), has served as a Visiting Associate Professor in the School of History and Sociology at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and was an Associate Professor of History at Atlanta Metropolitan State College. She was a University System of Georgia Chancellor’s Learning Scholar and a nominee for the Regents’ Teaching Excellence Award. Dr. McCray received the GSU History Department’s John A. Alexander Memorial Award, a Georgia Regional Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society paper prize, and the Association of Black Women Historians‘ Drusilla Dunjee Houston Award.

Education

Ph D, History, Georgia State University, 2017

MA, History, Clark Atlanta University, 2002

Other, University of the West Indies, Mona , 1994

BA, History, Spelman College, 1996

Awards and Honors

Edward Lee Diversity Scholarship, Southern Foodways Alliance Oral History Workshop , Award, 2017

John A. Alexander Memorial Award, Georgia State University History Department , Award, 2017

Graduate Student Paper Prize, Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society, GA Regional Conference , Honor, 2016

Distinguished Alumna Recognition, Clark Atlanta University, Honor, 2015

Drusilla Dunjee Houston Scholarship Award , Association of Black Women Historians, Award, 2015

Intellectual Contributions

Kenja Mccray, Essential Soldiers, New York University Press – August 5 2025

Curtis L Todd, Kokila Ravi, Kenja Mccray, “Cultivating Critical Thinking Skills in Online Course Environments: Instructional Techniques and Strategies” , IGI Global – January 2021

Kenja Mccray, Charmayne Patterson, Christy Garrison-Harrison, “Remembering Jacqueline Anne Rouse, 1950-2020: Scholarship, Educational Advocacy, and Mentoring as Audacious Leadership” , Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians – January 2021

Kenja Mccray, Curtis L Todd, Atlanta Metropolitan State College: Campus History, Arcadia Press, Campus History Series – August 8 2023

Service to the Profession

Officer, Other Officer, Georgia Association of Historians, Regional – February 2022 to Present

Officer, Other Officer, The Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Local – August 2020 to July 2023

Service to the Community

, Morehouse College August 2023 to Present

Teaching Interest

United States, African American, and women's history, African American studies, and African American culture

Research Interest

the 19^th and 20^th century United States, African Americans, Africa and the diaspora, transnational histories, social history, and women's leadership