Emily Hawk

Emily Hawk is a twentieth century United States cultural historian and final-year Ph.D. candidate at Columbia University. Beginning in fall 2024, Hawk will be a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of African American History at Princeton University.

Her current research, "Movements of Modern Dance: Black Choreography and Civic Education, 1965-1976," examines how a cohort of Black choreographers intervened in discourse on race, cultural identity, and civic engagement by performing beyond conventional theatrical settings and engaging diverse national audiences.

Hawk's article "Civic Education and Artistic Innovation on New York City’s Dancemobile, 1967-88" is in press with the Journal of Urban History. Her most recent publication is “The Choreographer as Intellectual: Alvin Ailey’s Ideas about Black Modern Dance” in the Journal of American Culture. She is a contributor to the blogs of the Gotham Center for New York City History and the Society for U.S. Intellectual History and has written book reviews for The Nation and History Today. 

Hawk's research has been supported by fellowships and grants from the Smithsonian Institution, the Rockefeller Archives, the Society for U.S. Intellectual History, New York State Archives, Emory University, and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. It has also earned accolades from the Dance Studies Association (Selma Jeanne Cohen Award), Popular Cultural Association (William M. Jones Award), and Western Association of Women Historians (Perry Graduate Poster Prize).

Hawk is committed to teaching and student mentorship, grounded by a love for the liberal arts. A 2021 finalist for Columbia's Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching and a Faculty Diversity Fellow, Hawk participates in Columbia's Teaching Development Program. She serves as an advisor to rural college applicants through the Fair Opportunity Project (2022-present) and is a former undergraduate academic advisor through Columbia's Center for American Studies (2019-2022).

Prior to Columbia, Hawk earned an M.A. with distinction in dance history at the University of Roehampton and a B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, in dance and history from Franklin & Marshall College. She lives in New York City with her husband Mark Harmon-Vaught, a higher education administrator.