Dr. Ayoka Chenzira is one of the first African American women to teach filmmaking in higher education — building programs and institutions that have shaped generations of Black women storytellers.
Ayoka Chenzira's work as an educator is as groundbreaking as her films. She has spent her career opening doors — creating programs, building departments, and training storytellers who carry her influence into the world.
Chaired the Department of Media and Communication Arts and co-created the college's first MFA in Media Arts Production, establishing a new graduate pathway for emerging media artists.
As Diana King Endowed Professor and Division Chair for the Arts, she created the first documentary filmmaking and photography majors at any HBCU — programs that grew rapidly and reshaped the college's identity. With the generous support of Jonathan Logan, Chenzira created the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation Center for Documentary Studies at Spelman College. Inspired by the vision of iconic filmmaker and Dianna King Endowed Professor, Julie Dash, the Center pioneered training documentary students as FAA-certified drone pilots — among the first at any HBCU. Spelman graduate Neema Griffin's aerial cinematography has already appeared in Dash's MONUMENTS exhibition at MOCA Los Angeles and an upcoming Wanda Sykes special.
A documentary film teaching space in Spelman's new Mary Schmidt Campbell Center for Innovation & the Arts, and the stop-motion animation studio at Bowie State University, were both named in her honor.
Beyond the classroom, Ayoka has trained emerging filmmakers in Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya, and South Africa, and presented research at international conferences across Europe and Asia.
After more than two decades of service, Ayoka holds the title of Professor Emerita — a reflection of her enduring relationship with the institution she helped transform.
Dr. Ayoka Chenzira became the first African American to earn a doctorate in Digital Media from Georgia Tech — and was later recognized with the institution's Alumni Pioneer Award.