Authors like Ann Cameron
Ann Cameron
Theresa Ann Cameron (January 29, 1954, Buffalo, New York - May 2012) was the first African-American woman to be awarded tenure in the College of Design at Arizona State University, in 2000.
After spending her entire childhood in foster care, Dr. Cameron put herself through college, with a full scholarship to Boston College and then a transfer to the State University of New York, Buffalo. She eventually obtained her Doctorate in Design from Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1991. Her difficult childhood experiences are chronicled in her book Foster Care Odyssey in America: A Black Girl's Story published in 2002, and detailed by Christel Hyden.
On September 7, 2008, ASU President Michael M. Crow fired Dr. Cameron, an Associate Professor with tenure, for "plagiarism of syllabi" and two other charges. Cameron's firing is the only known case of a tenured faculty member being fired for using another instructor's syllabus without attribution, and the infraction is not regarded as very serious in the teaching professions, where plagiarism in actual research work is significantly frowned upon. The move to fire Dr. Cameron was strongly opposed by the University Faculty Senate (Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure), who were overruled by Crow.
