Johns Hopkins University board debates renaming English professorship
BALTIMORE -- Johns Hopkins University could soon change the name of its English professorship title.
The Caroline Donovan Professorship in English Literature is under review by the university's Name Review Board, which was formed in 2021.
The board evaluates requests to rename buildings and programs that recognize people whose legacies no longer uphold the institution's values, according to university officials.
Donovan helped to establish the school's first endowed chair and donated $100,000 back in 1889.
Her husband, Joseph, was one of Maryland's largest and most prominent slave traders, though, according to the school.
Donovan inherited all of his property when he died in 1861.
The undertaking of renaming the professorship is still in progress. The process of renaming—or denameing—buildings or programs is complex and requires community outreach as well as substantial research, according to university officials.
