Dr. Carolyn Denard is a Toni Morrison Scholar and Founder and Board Chair of the Toni Morrison Society. As Board Chair, she initiated the interdisciplinary Biennial Conference Series of the Toni Morrison Society and was founding director of the Bench by the Road Project. She also served as Regional Director of the NEH-Sponsored Project: Behind the Veil: African American Life in the Jim Crow South. Dr. Denard was a Professor of African American Literature at Georgia State University for fifteen years before serving as Associate Dean at Brown and Emory Universities and as Dean of the College at Connecticut College. Most recently, she served as Associate Provost at Georgia College and State University.  In addition to her work helping to complete the oral histories that will provide context for the 32 Benches placed by the Toni Morrison Society, Dr. Denard is also completing ethnographic study of Toni Morrison’s novels in a book titled, Bearing Witness: A Cultural Study of Toni Morrison’s Novels.

Dr. Craig Stutman is an Associate Professor of History and Public Policy at Delaware Valley University.   Dr. Stutman formerly served as the lead research historian and writer of a National Park Service Context Study examining the history and built-environment of African-Americans in Pennsylvania–a project which was jointly administered by both the African-American Museum in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.  In addition, he currently serves as the Chair of the Toni Morrison Society’s Bench by the Road project–a memorial history project that has been marking significant events in the history of the African American Diaspora by placing symbolic benches and plaques at both national and international locations.