Professor Maja Horn has been appointed Director of the Barnard Center for Research on Women (BCRW), Provost and Dean of the Faculty Rebecca L. Walkowitz announced Friday, July 17.
In the announcement, Walkowitz commended Horn’s decades of service within the faculty of Barnard’s Department of Spanish and Latin American Cultures, as well as her deep involvement with BCRW and extensive experience on College and University Committees. In addition to her roles as professor and chair of the Department of Spanish and Latin American Cultures, Horn is cross-appointed in the Department of Africana Studies.
“Our review of the nomination and our conversations with Professor Horn make clear to us that she has the experience, the vision, and the collaborative spirit to serve as an excellent leader for Barnard’s largest research center,” said Walkowitz. “Professor Horn comes to this role after nearly two decades of engagement with BCRW as an intellectual partner, advisory board member, and participant in the longstanding Gender Justice and Neoliberal Transformations working group. We are grateful to her for her service.”
Horn’s appointment, effective July 1, 2026, is a three-year term and received strong support and the nomination of the BCRW Executive Committee, as well as unanimous affirmation from the BCRW Advisory Board. Following the Center’s by-laws, the nomination was brought to the President and Provost, who are jointly responsible for appointing the Director.
As Director of BCRW, Horn will lead one of the nation’s premier centers for feminist research and public scholarship. Her predecessor, Professor Rebecca Jordan-Young, led BCRW through a landmark period of transition and celebration, including the 50th “The Scholar and Feminist” conference, one of the longest-running feminist academic conferences in the country.
Horn joined Barnard in 2006, teaching courses across visual and performance arts, gender and sexualities in the Americas, and Caribbean literature. She is the author of Queer Genealogies in Dominican Literature and Culture (University Press of Florida, 2025) and Masculinity after Trujillo (University Press of Florida, 2014), with additional publications in GLQ, Small Axe, and CENTRO Journal. Her latest research project is titled “Disability Narratives in the Americas: A Critical South-North Dialogue.”