Dr. Iyelli Ichile teaches History, in the Department of Social Sciences at Prince George’s Community College. She joined the faculty full-time in 2019 and was appointed the Director of the AASI in 2020. Dr. Ichile holds a PhD in the History of the African Diaspora from Howard University, and a Master’s in African American Studies from Columbia University.
While in graduate school, she developed a research agenda that has been supported by the Smithsonian Folklife Center, the National Endowment for the Humanities, The DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, and several university grants.
Dr. Ichile has taught at a number of colleges and universities--including Temple University, Montgomery College, Virginia Commonwealth University, Florida A&M University, and Goddard College--but PGCC was her first postsecondary teaching job, and she considers it her academic home.
Her work is an exploration of the roles of women of African descent in Black freedom movements. She specifically examines the connections between African military cultures, spirituality, art and interpersonal relationships—as they relate to African liberation struggles.