Townes, Emilie M.: - Emilie M. Townes is the first Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology at Yale University Divinity School. She is the former Carolyne Williams Beaird Professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Townes is the author of 'Womanist Justice, Womanist Hope' and 'In a Blaze of Glory: Womanist Spirituality as Social Witness'. She is also the editor of A Troubling in My Soul: Womanist Perspectives on Evil and Suffering and Embracing the Spirit: Womanist Perspectives on Hope, Salvation, and Transformation. In 2005, Townes became the first African American woman elected vice president of the American Academy of Religion. She will assume its presidency in 2008.