Margena A. Christian

• Emeritus professor, University of Illinois Chicago

Margena A. Christian, Ed.D., is an Emeritus Senior Lecturer and Director of Internships for Undergraduate Studies, English and Professional Writing, at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Her research interests focus on the intersections of the role of the media in education, Black popular culture, biographical and historical inquiry.

Courses she instructed included English and Professional Writing classes (Introduction to Academic Writing, Academic Writing 1, Media and Professional Writing, Writing for Digital and New Media, Advanced Professional Writing, Editing/Publishing, Internship and Portfolio Practicum). Dr. Christian, a founding faculty member of UIC's Professional Writing minor in 2015, developed and designed the research institution's inaugural Writing for Digital and New Media class in Spring 2016 and the inaugural Advanced Professional Writing class in Fall 2016.

The media scholar is a former Senior Editor/Senior Writer with the monthly EBONY magazine and a former Features Editor with the weekly JET magazine. She is the only editor in the history of Johnson Publishing Company (JPC) to have written for EBONY, JET, EBONY Man, EBONY South Africa, EBONY Fashion Fair and EBONY. Dr. Christian compiled the history for EBONY Fashion Fair, JPC's pioneering traveling fashion show, and was the last editor at JPC to have worked with late publishing magnate John H. Johnson, founder of JPC, before leaving the company in 2014.

Additionally, commissioned articles written by Dr. Christian about John H. Johnson, Eunice W. Johnson, Lerone Bennett Jr., Bo Diddley, Tupac Shakur, Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, Donna Summer, Aaliyah, Luther Vandross, Ossie Davis, and Della Reese are featured online at Oxford University Press' American National Biography.

Dr. Christian is the author of two biographies, Empire: The House That John H. Johnson Built (2018) and It's No Wonder: The Life and Times of Motown's Legendary Songwriter Sylvia Moy (2026).

• –present Emeritus Senior Lecturer of English and Professional Writing, University of Illinois Chicago

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