Gretchen Murphy is the Sue Goldston Lebermann Endowed Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1999 and maintains an active research and teaching profile in American literature and cultural studies. Research Interests: Murphy's work spans U.S. literature to 1914, with emphasis on: Nationalism, imperialism, and democratic theory Intersections of religion, secularity, and gender Sentimental/domestic writing and speculative fiction Transnational and hemispheric cultural dynamics Publications: Her scholarship includes three monographs and eleven articles (2003–2024), predominantly analyzing 19th-century American literature through lenses of race, gender, and empire. Recent works explore secularity in New England women writers and postsecular literary theory. Thematically, her oeuvre interrogates U.S. imperialism, racial formation, and democratic contradictions in historical and speculative contexts. Awards: Sue Goldston Lebermann Endowed Professorship
Marie Sarita Gaytán is an Associate Professor at the University of Utah in the Departments of Sociology and Criminology and Gender Studies . Her academic career spans over a decade, including an Assistant Professorship at the same institution (2011-2018) and a Visiting Scholar position at Stanford University (2019-2020). Dr. Gaytán's research intersects sociology, gender studies, and cultural analysis. Education BA in Sociology & Political Science, University of California, Irvine MA in Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz PhD in Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz Dr. Gaytán's research focuses on gender identities , cultural economies , racialized labor practices , and transnational migration . Her work critically examines how colonial histories shape contemporary commodity chains and how marginalized communities navigate systemic inequities. Scientific Awards include multiple recognitions for excellence in research (2016-2018), national fellowships (2005-2006), and early career accolades (2002-2004). She has secured external grants from the National Science Foundation (2015-2016) and the University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States (2013). Dr. Gaytán actively contributes to professional boards like the Pacific Sociological Association and Latin American Studies Association .
Christie Sennott is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Purdue University, with a research focus on health, family, gender, and inequalities. She specializes in reproductive health, motherhood, and HIV/AIDS dynamics, particularly in sub-Saharan African contexts. Her work bridges sociological theory with public health applications, examining how social norms shape fertility preferences and contraceptive practices. PhD in Sociology (University of Colorado) MA & BA in Sociology (University of Missouri) Her research explores the intersection of gendered sexualities, life course transitions, and health outcomes. Current projects examine unintended pregnancy measurement, contraceptive method negotiation, and pandemic impacts on maternal careers. She employs mixed methods including ethnographic approaches and quantitative policy analysis. Key article trends include: Gendered reproductive decision-making HIV/AIDS and fertility patterns Global health disparities Methodological innovations in demographic measurement Scientific contributions recognized through: Kenneth T. Kofmehl Outstanding Teaching Award (2018) Hewlett Foundation Population Health Fellowship Institute of International Education Grant As a faculty affiliate with the Center for Research on Young People’s Health, Dr. Sennott contributes to interdisciplinary initiatives addressing adolescent and maternal health challenges.
Eva Bischoff is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of International History at the University of Trier, Germany. She holds a Venia Legendi in Modern and Contemporary History and has been affiliated with the university since 2011, where she teaches Global History, British/German Imperial History, and Gender History. PhD from Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich (2009) Habilitation from University of Trier (2018) Her research spans interdisciplinary themes of Settler Colonialism , Postcolonialism , Gender and Body History , and Global Colonial Histories . She has authored monographs such as Benevolent Colonizers in Nineteenth-Century Australia (2020) and Kannibale-Werden (2011). Recent publications focus on environmental history (2024), Quaker interventions (2018), and colonial biopolitics (2016). She co-edits journals and contributes to interdisciplinary networks like IRTG Diversity and TRANSMARE. Supervised theses explore topics like Quaker humanitarianism , German colonialism , and Indigenous Australian identity . Her work intersects with ecocriticism , maritime history , and transnational colonial analysis .
Claudio G. Vera Sanchez is a Professor in the Department of Justice Studies at San Jose State University 's College of Social Sciences . His research focuses on policing practices, racial disparities, youth experiences, and public policy impacts on marginalized communities, particularly Latino and African American populations. Research Interests: Centered on police-community dynamics, Vera Sanchez examines how order maintenance strategies affect minority neighborhoods. His work investigates immigrant interactions with law enforcement, strategies to avoid institutional harm, and critical perspectives on police legitimacy. This includes analyzing contemporary debates about defunding, reforming, or abolishing police systems. Key Themes: The 15 listed publications reflect consistent engagement with racialized policing , immigrant status impacts , and urban crime control . His scholarship bridges Criminology , Ethnic Studies , and Migration Studies , with sub-fields spanning Latino Masculinity , Transnational Migration , Domestic Violence Response , and Community Empowerment .
Eiko Owada, a Professor at the School of International Liberal Studies, specializes in William Faulkner studies, global imperialism, and the intersection of labor/property in American literary works. Her research spans comparative slavery studies, Caribbean cultural analysis, and modernist literary theory, with a focus on postcolonial readings and narrative structures. Ph.D. from State University of New York at Albany Awarded Bio-Kyowa Award in 2008 Active in multiple academic societies including The William Faulkner Society of Japan Her scholarly work examines how Faulkner's texts engage with Caribbean history, Hollywood's political economy, and modernist responses to Columbus's legacy. Articles in refereed journals like New Perspective and Rikkyo American Studies highlight her contributions to postcolonial discourse and cultural memory studies. Key research trends include: transnational modernism, slavery's contemporary resonances, and Hollywood's influence on literary production. She has presented extensively at Japanese academic conferences and contributed to edited volumes on globalization. Bio-Kyowa Award (2008) Owada's teaching portfolio includes courses on American literature, translation practices, and literary theory at the undergraduate level. She has led research projects funded by JSPS and Fulbright, exploring Faulkner's connections to Caribbean history, Hollywood, and comparative slavery discourses.
Mugambi Jouet is a Professor of Law at the University of Southern California's Gould School of Law, where he joined in 2022. Previously, he taught at McGill University following a Grey Fellowship at Stanford Law School. His scholarly work focuses on American exceptionalism, criminal justice, and comparative history from a multidisciplinary perspective. Jouet is the author of Exceptional America: What Divides Americans From the World and From Each Other (University of California Press, 2017), which examines the relationship between American exceptionalism and modern political polarization. His research has appeared in top journals including the American Journal of Comparative Law, American Journal of Legal History, and Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. In 2022, he received the Brophy Prize for groundbreaking work in American legal history, and in 2025, he was awarded the William A. Rutter Distinguished Teaching Award. His scholarship analyzes the death penalty, mass incarceration, juvenile justice, guns, abortion, and the historiography of key concepts from 'American exceptionalism' to the 'Western world.' Brophy Prize (2022) William A. Rutter Distinguished Teaching Award (2025) Before academia, Professor Jouet represented indigent prisoners in Manhattan and the Bronx, served as a judicial clerk at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, and worked as an assistant clinical law instructor at Sciences Po in Paris. A member of the New York bar, he is trilingual in English, French, and Spanish.
Emily Weissbourd is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of English at Lehigh University. She specializes in early modern English and Spanish literatures with a focus on representations of race, gender, and sexuality in transnational contexts. Her educational background includes a PhD in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory from the University of Pennsylvania (2011). Prior to joining Lehigh, she held an Ahmanson-Getty postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA, a critical writing teaching fellowship at University of Pennsylvania, and a visiting assistant professorship at Bryn Mawr College. Weissbourd's research spans multiple intersecting fields that examine power dynamics in early modern contexts: Early modern representations of race, religion, gender and sexuality Tudor and Stuart drama and the Spanish comedia Transnational studies and translation Shakespearean afterlives in popular culture Critical race theory applications to historical texts Her scholarly work demonstrates consistent engagement with how early modern literature intersects with contemporary discussions of race and identity. Her publications reveal a trajectory that moves from examining specific textual representations to broader cultural analyses of how these representations continue to shape modern discourse, particularly evident in her 2023 monograph Bad Blood: Staging Race Between Early Modern England and Spain . Weissbourd serves as Director of Graduate Studies for the English Department, overseeing MA and PhD programs. Her teaching portfolio includes courses such as 'Old Books, New Problems,' 'Shakespeare's Teenagers,' 'Imagined Worlds: Utopia and Dystopia in Literature and Film,' and 'Early Modern Race and Empire.' She has mentored numerous graduate students through thesis and dissertation work, though specific names are not listed in available materials.
Susan Thomas serves as Associate Professor of Cultural Foundations of Education at Syracuse University and holds a Senior Research Associate position at the South Asia Center. Her academic background as an educational anthropologist informs her interdisciplinary research at the crossroads of international education, migration studies, and critical university studies, with dedicated regional focus on South Asia and its global diasporas. Dr. Thomas completed her doctoral studies in Education, Culture, and Society at the University of Pennsylvania, building on her undergraduate foundation in International Affairs from The George Washington University. Her scholarly inquiry centers on complex dynamics of international education and transnational migration, particularly examining South Asian student experiences through lenses of debt, precarity, race, caste, and resistance. She investigates how structural violence and neoliberal policies shape educational pathways and identities, utilizing ethnographic methodologies to capture nuanced lived realities. Thomas's recent scholarly output demonstrates consistent thematic focus: her 2024 monograph 'Indebted Mobilities' analyzes Indian youth migration through debt and mobility prisms, while journal articles in Discourse and Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies explore dissent in neoliberal universities and precarious student migrant journeys. Her timely 2025 TIME Magazine article critiques U.S. immigration policies affecting international students, reflecting commitment to public scholarship. She maintains active professional engagement through memberships in the Comparative and International Education Society, American Studies Association, American Anthropological Association, and Association for Asian American Studies.
Rivi Handler-Spitz serves as Professor in Asian Languages and Cultures at Macalester College, currently on sabbatical for 2024/2025. Her scholarship uniquely bridges Chinese literary studies, comparative literature, and visual arts through innovative graphic narrative approaches. Education: AB in Comparative Literature (Chinese, French, Latin) from Columbia University PhD in Comparative Literature from University of Chicago Handler-Spitz specializes in Ming dynasty intellectual history, with groundbreaking work on radical thinker Li Zhi and cross-cultural encounters between China and Europe. Her research examines ethical dimensions of teacher-student relationships in Neo-Confucian 'recorded sayings' and the international racial history of Chinese script reform, employing both traditional sinological analysis and original cartooning techniques to visualize complex historical narratives. Her recent publications reveal a decisive shift toward interdisciplinary graphic scholarship, where visual-verbal formats address themes of cultural identity and global modernity. The 2024 chapter 'Savage Script' deconstructs racist associations with Chinese writing systems, while her 2022 prose analysis contributes to classical Chinese literary studies, collectively demonstrating how visual storytelling can transform humanities scholarship. Scientific Awards: Getty Scholar (2024-2025) National Humanities Center Fellow (2020-2021) Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Fellowship (2024-2025) British Academy Fellowship Handler-Spitz has secured significant research funding for projects exploring Chinese script reform and graphic narrative development. She mentors students through courses spanning Masterpieces of Chinese Literature to Cross-Cultural Encounters, emphasizing comparative frameworks and creative pedagogy. Her teaching portfolio includes specialized seminars on Li Zhi, Women Warriors in Chinese literature, and the Art of Chinese Writing. As a practicing cartoonist, she develops original visual methodologies for academic communication, contributing comics to publications like Seven Days and The COVID Chronicles while creating a book-length graphic narrative on script reform. This dual scholarly-artistic practice positions her at the vanguard of experimental humanities research.
Professor Juan G. Ramos serves as Department Chair of Spanish, Latin American, Latinx, and Caribbean Studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, where he has taught since 2011. He holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a BA in English from Rutgers-Newark. His research centers on decolonial thought in Latin American cultural production, with expertise in Modernismo, avant-garde movements, and Andean literary studies. Key contributions include theoretical frameworks for understanding decolonial aesthetics across poetry, music, and film from the 1960s-1970s. Modernismo and Avant-Gardes in Latin America World Literature and Latin American cultural production Decolonial epistemologies and aesthetics Andean literary networks and affective forms 21st-century Latin American fiction Ramos has received prestigious fellowships including the M.H. Abrams Fellowship at the National Humanities Center (2021-2022) and Holy Cross Faculty Fellowship (2021). He currently serves on the PMLA Editorial Board (2023-2025) after chairing LASA's Ecuadorian Studies section (2018-2020). M.H. Abrams Fellowship at National Humanities Center Holy Cross Faculty Fellowship PMLA Editorial Board membership LASA Ecuadorian Studies Section Chair As Department Chair, he leads curriculum development while mentoring students in Latin American literary studies. His current research on 'Andean Modernismos' examines affective responses to literary innovation across Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, supported by visiting scholar positions at Georgetown University and University of Pennsylvania during 2024-2025.
Dr. Jayne Cubbage serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Communications within the College of Arts & Sciences at Bowie State University, where she teaches in the Graduate Program in Organizational Communication and previously instructed broadcast journalism, mass communication theory, media literacy, news literacy, and television production courses at both graduate and undergraduate levels. Her educational background includes: Ph.D. in Mass Communication and Media Studies from Howard University M.A. in Liberal Arts from the University of Pennsylvania M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University B.A. in Communications (Broadcast Journalism) from Temple University Dr. Cubbage's research centers on media audiences of color, media literacy, news literacy, and social networking, with specialized focus on critical race media literacy, Black millennial media consumption, accessibility for disabled students in media production education, and media literacy implementation at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Her work consistently addresses systemic barriers and representation issues within media education and practice. Analysis of her publication trends reveals sustained scholarly engagement with media literacy in higher education contexts, particularly through edited volumes and encyclopedia contributions. Her work demonstrates three key trajectories: 1) Critical examinations of race and media representation, 2) Accessibility challenges in media education for disabled students, and 3) Strategic implementation of media literacy programs at HBCUs. Recent publications increasingly integrate intersectional perspectives, connecting disability studies, juvenile justice, and social work with core media literacy frameworks.
Professor India Thusi is a distinguished legal scholar at Indiana University Maurer School of Law with a joint appointment as Senior Scientist at the Kinsey Institute. She holds the Charles L. Whistler Faculty Fellowship and teaches Criminal Procedure, Criminal Law, Critical Race Theory, and Regulation of Vice courses. Her educational background includes a BA from Emory University, a JD cum laude from Fordham University School of Law, and a PhD in Social Anthropology and Law and Society from the University of Witwatersrand. Prior to her academic career, Professor Thusi gained significant practical legal experience working with organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and The Opportunity Agenda. Professor Thusi's research examines racial and sexual hierarchies as they relate to policing, race, and gender. Her scholarship has been published in top legal journals including the Harvard Law Review, NYU Law Review, Northwestern Law Review (twice), Georgetown Law Journal, and Cornell Law Review Online. Her work bridges theoretical analysis with practical legal applications, focusing on systemic inequalities in legal systems and policing practices. Her recent publications demonstrate consistent engagement with critical issues in criminal justice, with particular emphasis on intersectional approaches to understanding policing, race, and gender. Her research trajectory shows increasing focus on digital and technological dimensions of policing and legal regulation. Fulbright U.S. Global Scholar for 2020-2023 Recognized as Top 40 Rising Young Lawyer by American Bar Association (2019) Paper 'Reality Porn' selected for Stanford/Harvard/Yale Junior Faculty Forum (2020) Most recent paper selected for Equality Law Scholars Workshop (2021) Professor Thusi completed prestigious clerkships with the Honorable Robert L. Carter (U.S. District Court for Southern District of New York), the Honorable Damon J. Keith (U.S. Court of Appeals for Sixth Circuit), and Justice van der Westhuizen at the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Her unique combination of international experience, practical legal work, and scholarly research positions her as a leading voice in critical legal studies.
Josiah Brownell is an Associate Professor of History in the Social Science and Cultural Studies Department at Pratt Institute's School of Liberal Arts & Sciences. His academic work focuses on 20th century Southern African history, particularly Rhodesia (colonial Zimbabwe) and apartheid South Africa. His educational background includes: B.A. from Western Michigan University M.A. from the London School of Economics J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School Ph.D. in History from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Brownell's research interests span 20th century Southern African history , race and ethnicity , national identity in Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa, self-determination and secessionism , comparative settler colonialism , and the international politics of African decolonization . His work critically examines the intersections of race, power, and sovereignty in postcolonial Africa. His publications reveal a consistent focus on the political dynamics of settler colonialism and decolonization in Southern Africa. Brownell's scholarship often centers on Rhodesia, examining its Unilateral Declaration of Independence, demographic challenges, and international relations. His work connects historical events to broader themes of sovereignty, recognition, and the complexities of postcolonial state formation. While no specific scientific awards are mentioned in the available information, Brownell's scholarly contributions have been recognized through publication with prestigious academic presses including Cambridge University Press, Bloomsbury Academic, and Palgrave Macmillan. As an active academic, Brownell engages with broader audiences through media appearances, such as his interview on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Radio discussing Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence. His work bridges academic scholarship with public history, making complex historical narratives accessible to wider audiences.
Maheen Haider serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology within the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Her research examines high-skilled Muslim immigrants in Western contexts with emphasis on Asian American experiences. Academic credentials include: Ph.D. in Sociology from Boston College (2021) M.A. in Sociology from Boston College M.A. in Social Development from University of Sussex (UK) B.Sc. in Software Engineering from Fatima Jinnah Women University (Pakistan) Her interdisciplinary work investigates intersectional identities of race, religion, and class among Muslim immigrants in post-9/11 America. She analyzes how capital-intensive labor markets enable access to white-associated privileges while structural Islamophobia perpetuates racial inequality. Additional research explores racialized media representations of Muslims, linking Hollywood portrayals to War on Terror justifications through imperialistic narratives. Recent publications (2018-2020) reveal consistent focus on Muslim identity negotiation in Western institutions. Her scholarship demonstrates how structural racism and media tropes shape lived experiences of Pakistani immigrants, particularly graduate students navigating contested identities in American academia through qualitative methodologies. Award recognition includes: Honourable mention and 2nd Place in the 2019 Best Book Award category of Study Abroad & International Students SIG, Comparative and International Education Society Dr. Haider's advising activities and grant funding details were not specified in source materials, though her role as Assistant Professor indicates graduate student mentorship in sociology.
