[2] She has written on the topic of race in horror films, and in particular representations of Black people in horror films, in her 2011 non-fiction book Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present (which was adapted into a 2019 documentary film), as well as in the 2023 book The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar, which she co-authored with Mark H. Harris.
Coleman was born in 1969 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,[1] and earned her Bachelor of Arts in communication at Chatham College.
[2] She went on to receive a Master of Arts in communication from the University of Missouri, and earned her PhD in mass communication from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio.
[2] In August 2016, Coleman was instated as the Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Initiatives at the University of Michigan's Rackham Graduate School.
[2] In 2018, Coleman was named vice president and associate provost for diversity at Texas A&M University.