Winnie Wong is a Professor of Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on art history, particularly exploring themes of fakes, forgeries, and authorship through interdisciplinary approaches. She examines the global artistic networks of Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, challenging Western narratives of Chinese artistic practices. Wong holds a PhD from MIT's History, Theory + Criticism program and was a Harvard Society of Fellows Junior Fellow. Her major works include Van Gogh on Demand: China and the Readymade (2014, Joseph Levenson Prize winner), Learning from Shenzhen (2017), and a forthcoming book on Canton trade portraitists. She teaches courses like Theory of the Copy and Rhetoric of the Image , mentoring undergraduates through the Undergraduate Research Apprentices program and advising PhD students in art history and visual studies. Wong's research has been supported by grants from Mellon Foundation, ACLS, SSRC, and others. Her work has been translated into multiple languages and appears in journals like Current Anthropology and Law & Literature . She frequently discusses her work on podcasts and collaborates with museums including M+ and the Asian Art Museum.
Tom McEnaney is an Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Spanish & Portuguese at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of the Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM). He holds a joint appointment in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese and serves on the Executive Board of UC Cuba. He is affiliated with the Center for Cultural Analytics, the Program in Critical Theory, the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine and Society, and the Data Science Lab (D-Lab). His research focuses on the history of media and technology, Argentine, Cuban, and U.S. literature, sound studies, linguistic anthropology, computational humanities, and new media studies. His book Acoustic Properties: Radio, Narrative, and the New Neighborhood of the Americas (2017) explores the interplay of radio and narrative in Argentina, Cuba, and the U.S., analyzing populism, state socialism, and the reimagining of the vox populi through listening practices. McEnaney’s work has appeared in journals such as diacritics , PMLA , and Representations , and media outlets like The New York Times and Public Books . He is a Mellon New Directions Fellow (2020–2023) in cultural analytics and leads a project on tape technology’s impact on testimonial writing, rock nacional, electronic music, and audiobooks in the Americas. Previously an Assistant Professor at Cornell University, he founded the Latin American Journals Project, an online archive of digitized literary journals from Latin America and the Hispanophone Caribbean. His current affiliations emphasize interdisciplinary collaboration and expanding access to cultural archives globally.
Sasha Welland is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Washington, affiliated with Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies; China Studies; Comparative History of Ideas; and graduate certificate programs in Cinema & Media Studies and Public Scholarship. Her research focuses on Asian American studies, East Asian ethnography, feminism, visual culture, and sociocultural anthropology. Welland’s scholarship bridges historical and contemporary analyses. Her book Experimental Beijing (2018) explores Chinese contemporary art as a site of cultural negotiation around gender, globalization, and post-socialist transformations. Her earlier work A Thousand Miles of Dreams (2006) traces the transnational lives of two 20 th -century Chinese women activists. She contributes to Journal of Visual Culture and has published in Signs and Yishu . An engaged public scholar, Welland has curated feminist art exhibitions in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, blending academic research with cultural practice. Her work interrogates intersections of gender, space, and global flows in East Asian contexts.
Prof. Ahmet Atay holds the rank of Professor of Communication Studies at the College of Wooster, serving as Program Chair of Global Media & Digital Studies and liaison to the Digital Visual Storytelling Pathway. His academic journey includes degrees from Marmara University (B.A., 1998), Ohio University (M.A., 2001), University of Northern Iowa (M.A., 2003), and Southern Illinois University (Ph.D., 2009). His research focuses on transnational communication, digital media's societal impact, cultural identity formation in global contexts, and queer diasporic experiences. He actively explores media representation of gender/sexuality, critical pedagogy, and autoethnography as research methodologies. Notable projects include editing works on millennial media ecology, intercultural communication pedagogy, and transnational queer cinema. Teaching responsibilities include courses on intercultural communication, mediated gender studies, and digital storytelling for social justice. He has held leadership roles in professional organizations like the National Communication Association and Central States Communication Association. Prof. Atay's recent publications emphasize digital ethnography, decolonizing communication studies, and queer pedagogy innovations. His work bridges theoretical frameworks with practical educational applications, addressing contemporary issues like diversity in academia and media's role in shaping cultural narratives.
Silvia Lindtner is an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan's School of Information and Director of the Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing (ESC). She holds courtesy appointments in the Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design and the Digital Studies Institute. Her work focuses on the social and cultural study of technology in China and globally, with a focus on data-driven governance, AI ethics, and the intersection of technology and labor. Lindtner has conducted nearly two decades of fieldwork in China, examining innovation ecosystems, digital economies, and the affective dimensions of state control. She is the author of the award-winning *Prototype Nation: China and the Contested Promise of Innovation* (2020) and co-author of *Technoprecarious* (2020). Education: PhD in Information and Computer Sciences from University of California, Irvine; BS/MS in Media Technology and Design from University of Hagenberg, Austria. Research Interests: Science and Technology Studies (STS), China Studies, HCI, Critical Computing, AI Ethics, Data Governance, Labor Studies, and Transnational Digital Economies. She explores how technological systems shape governance, labor practices, and everyday life, particularly in contexts of global inequality and state surveillance. Awards: Joseph Levenson Prize (2021), Francis L.K. Hsu Book Prize (2021), ACM Distinguished Member (2022), and fellowships from the National Committee on US-China Relations (2021-2023) and China-US Scholars Program (2021-2022). Grants: Supported by NSF, IMLS, Intel Labs, Google Anita Borg, and Chinese National Natural Science Foundation. Leads interdisciplinary initiatives including Tech.Culture.Matters research group and Michigan Interactive and Social Computing (MISC) research group. Labs/Teams: Directs the Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing (ESC) and collaborates with the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies. Current projects include studies on affective control in AI governance and transnational data practices in healthcare and labor.
Steven Jackson is a Professor of Information Science and Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University's Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, with additional graduate field appointments in Communication and Public Affairs. Since July 2023, he has served as Vice-Provost for Academic Innovation at Cornell, and previously held leadership positions as Chair of Information Science and Dean of William Keeton House. His work bridges academic research with significant institutional leadership in higher education innovation. Dr. Jackson's research focuses on critical intersections of technology, society, and the environment, with three primary strands: technology ethics, law and policy; maintenance, repair and sustainability; and technology, inequality and global development. His work draws from American pragmatism, political economy, and science and technology studies, integrating methods from sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and media studies. He is particularly interested in how computing practices meet social and material worlds, with implications for infrastructure, collaboration, sustainability, and cultural practice. His recent publications reveal a strong emphasis on repair as both theoretical concept and practical methodology, exploring 'ordinary hope' as a framework for technological engagement and examining unmaking as a necessary counterpart to design. The research spans diverse geographical contexts from the global North to South, addressing caste dynamics in computing, digital authoritarianism, and infrastructure challenges in developing contexts. Dr. Jackson has received significant recognition including an NSF CAREER award and more than twenty paper awards at leading computing and information science venues. His research has been supported by major organizations including the U.S. National Science Foundation, Social Science Research Council, Ford Foundation, Sloan Foundation, World Bank, Intel Research, Atkinson Center for Sustainability, and the Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council. As an advisor, Dr. Jackson has mentored numerous graduate students who have gone on to prominent positions at institutions worldwide. He currently advises Jen Liu, Amy Cheatle, Daniel Mwesigwa, Johan Michalove, and Ritik Batra, while his former students include Palashi Vaghela (Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University), Samir Passi (Responsible AI Researcher at Microsoft), Maggie Jack (Assistant Professor at NYU), and Ranjit Singh (Senior Researcher at Data and Society). Dr. Jackson convenes the Computing On Earth Lab, an experimental collaboration bringing together social scientists, humanists, artists, and engineers to rethink the material and planetary foundations of computing. The lab reflects his commitment to interdisciplinary approaches that address computing's environmental impacts and sustainability challenges.
Maile Arvin is a Kanaka Maoli feminist scholar and Assistant Professor at the Department of Ethnic Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her research and teaching focus on Indigenous relationships to land, histories of race and settler colonialism in Hawaiʻi, Oceania, and the United States. Previously, she was faculty in History and Gender Studies at the University of Utah and founding director of the Center for Pasifika Indigenous Knowledges. PhD in Ethnic Studies, University of California San Diego (2013) MA in Ethnic Studies, University of California San Diego (2009) BA in English, Swarthmore College (2005) Her research examines: Colonial production of racial categories, particularly Polynesians as an 'almost white race' in historical social science History of incarceration of Native Hawaiian children in government institutions (1865–1960s) Intersection of settler colonialism and Indigenous feminisms Critique of eugenics and genomic studies in the Pacific Community-engaged memorialization projects in Hawaiʻi Recent scholarly trends include analyses of Indigenous sovereignty, critiques of settler colonial whiteness, and interdisciplinary studies of race-gender dynamics. Arvin's publications explore Polynesian racialization, decolonial feminism, and the socioeconomic impacts of colonial institutions. NEH Chair's Grant for Nā Lei Poina ʻOle ACLS Digital Justice Seed Grant Arvin leads Nā Lei Poina ʻOle (Beloved Children Never Forgotten), a community history project about reformatories and industrial schools in Hawaiʻi. In collaboration with Kawela Farrant and the North Shore Community Land Trust, this project uses archival and oral histories to confront the legacy of child incarceration. She also critiques the nonprofit-industrial complex's role in limiting Indigenous sovereignty.
David Glovsky serves as Assistant Professor of History and African and African American Studies within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, focusing on 19th-20th century West Africa with regional expertise in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea. His research examines borderlands through lenses of mobility, citizenship, and alternative geographies, challenging state-imposed borders with community-driven spatial narratives. His educational foundation includes a B.A. in History and Human Geography from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. in African History from Michigan State University. Prior academic appointments include the Department of Africana Studies at University at Albany and the Department of History at Boston University, following Peace Corps service in southern Senegal that redirected his career from sports media into academia. Glovsky's research program centers on social justice-oriented historical narratives of marginalized West African communities, particularly Fulbe populations. His work synthesizes oral histories and archival research across six nations to analyze how borderland residents construct fluid geographies that transcend colonial/postcolonial boundaries. Key themes include migration as resistance , gendered border experiences , and Islam's role in transnational community formation , with methodological innovation in spatial history and decolonial approaches. Analysis of his nine recent publications (2019-2023) reveals consistent engagement with West African borderland resilience , demonstrating how communities maintain cross-border networks despite state fragmentation. His work bridges historical scholarship and contemporary migration debates , employing interdisciplinary frameworks from anthropology, geography, and postcolonial theory to document alternative spatial organizations that challenge Western cartographic traditions. ACLS Fellowship supporting book project Borderlanders: Popular Geographies, Mobility, and Belonging in West Africa Glovsky actively mentors graduate students interested in African history, emphasizing pathways for underrepresented scholars into U.S. academia. His research has received competitive external funding including the ACLS Fellowship, while his collaborative work on the NEH ‘Ajamī Project advanced accessibility of Pulaar manuscripts through digitization and multilingual translation. He maintains strong community ties with West African scholars and institutions, particularly in Senegambia. Though not leading a formal laboratory, Glovsky collaborates with international research teams across West Africa on borderland studies and manuscript preservation, working closely with scholars in Kolda (Senegal), Dakar, and Guinea-Bissau to document community histories through participatory methodologies.
University of California , Santa Barbara (UCSB)United States
Mary Bucholtz is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). She holds affiliations with multiple departments including Anthropology, Feminist Studies, Spanish and Portuguese, the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, Comparative Literature, and Latin American and Iberian Studies. Her research integrates sociocultural linguistics with anthropological, gender, and social justice frameworks. Education: PhD in Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley (1997) Bucholtz's work examines how language shapes and is shaped by social identities, particularly among youth, through dimensions like race, gender, and cultural practices. She emphasizes community-centered research , linguistic activism , and interdisciplinary methodologies to address systemic inequalities. Recent publications explore affective agency in Latinx youth, educational equity, and antiracist linguistics. Her collaborative projects often involve partnerships with educational institutions and youth communities in California, focusing on translanguaging , Black language justice , and raciolinguistic ideologies . Grants from the National Science Foundation, Spencer Foundation, and Wenner-Gren Foundation support her research. She co-edited the open-access volumes Decolonizing Linguistics and Inclusion in Linguistics (Oxford University Press, 2024), alongside authoring White Kids: Language, Race, and Styles of Youth Identity (Cambridge, 2011) and Talking College: Making Space for Black Language Practices in Higher Education (Teachers College Press, 2022).
K. Michael Hays is the Eliot Noyes Professor of Architectural Theory at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design (GSD) and Co-Director of the Master in Design Studies program. He has been a faculty member since 1988, specializing in architectural history and theory. His research focuses on European modernism, critical theory, and contemporary architectural practice, with notable contributions to the field through writings on figures like Mies van der Rohe and Peter Eisenman. Education: He holds a Bachelor of Architecture (1976) from Georgia Institute of Technology, a Master of Architecture in Advanced Studies (1979) from MIT, and a PhD in History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture and Art (1990) from MIT. Research Interests: Hays is renowned for founding the journal Assemblage , a pivotal forum for architectural theory. His work bridges historical analysis and contemporary practice, emphasizing theoretical frameworks for understanding modernism and its evolution. He has curated exhibitions at institutions like the Whitney Museum of American Art (as its first Adjunct Curator from 2000–2009). Publications: His authored and edited works include Architecture's Desire , Inscriptions: Architecture Before Speech , and critical studies on architects such as Buckminster Fuller and Diller + Scofidio. These publications explore themes of representation, modernist aesthetics, and interdisciplinary design. Awards and Roles: While no specific awards are listed, his academic leadership roles include Chair of the GSD PhD Committee (1995–2005) and Director of Advanced Independent Study Programs. He has also served on editorial boards for journals like Assemblage and Thresholds . Labs and Collaborations: Hays collaborates with academic and institutional partners, notably through curatorial projects and his role in shaping the GSD's theoretical curriculum. His influence extends to both pedagogical innovation and scholarly discourse in architectural education.
Alexandra Horowitz is a Senior Research Fellow and Adjunct Associate Professor at Barnard College. She has been teaching since 2004, specializing in dog cognition and olfactory research. Her academic roles span the Departments of English and Psychology, reflecting her interdisciplinary focus on animal behavior and human-animal interactions. Education: M.S. and Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from UC San Diego; B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. Research interests include naturalistic observations of dog social play, testing anthropomorphic assumptions, and characterizing canine olfactory abilities. She has authored influential books like Inside of a Dog and Being a Dog , exploring how dogs perceive the world. Her work frequently appears in top journals and media outlets, including the New York Times and TED-Ed. Recent articles highlight studies on dog navigation, play behavior, and olfactory perception. She has been recognized as among the Top 2% of Cited Authors globally. Her presentations and lectures span academic conferences, museums, and public forums, emphasizing science communication.
Patricia A. Banks is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Mount Holyoke College, with affiliations in Africana Studies and the Program in Entrepreneurship, Organizations, and Society. She holds a Ph.D. and A.M. from Harvard University and a B.A. (summa cum laude, valedictorian) from Spelman College. Her research explores intersections of culture, consumption, and race, focusing on African Diaspora dynamics. Key areas include cultural philanthropy, art collecting as identity practice, and corporate diversity capital. She authored Black Culture, Inc. (Stanford 2022), winning the Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award, and Race, Ethnicity, and Consumption (Routledge 2020). Recent honors include ASA awards and fellowships from the CASBS (Stanford), Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation, and Harvard’s Hutchins Center. She co-edits Poetics and serves on ASA committees. Teaching awards include recognition from Harvard’s Derek Bok Center and Mount Holyoke’s Baccalaureate address. Her work spans books, peer-reviewed articles, and media engagements (NYT, Artnet). The African American Museums Database, her digital archive, catalogs over 300 institutions. Current projects address corporate diversity signaling, African art markets, and dress code discrimination.
Harsha Ram is an Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on Russian and European Enlightenment, modernist literature, and the cultural histories of the Caucasus region. He holds dual B.A. Honors degrees in Italian and Russian from the University of Sydney and University of New South Wales, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Yale University. His work bridges literary theory, post-colonial studies, and geopoetics, with a particular emphasis on Georgia's literary modernism and its intersections with Russian imperial culture. Key themes include spatial theory, peripheral modernisms, and the transnational dimensions of cultural production. Recent work examines the role of ritual feasts in Georgian national identity and the geopoetics of Eurasian avant-garde movements. Ram has published extensively on figures like Velimir Khlebnikov and Boris Pasternak, exploring their engagement with imperial legacies and revolutionary aesthetics. His book The Imperial Sublime: A Russian Poetics of Empire (2003) remains a seminal study of Russian imperial poetics. Current projects include studies on Georgian literary encounters with Russian culture and the symbolic dimensions of Caucasus representations. His scholarship frequently appears in leading journals such as Modernism/Modernity , Slavic Review , and Ab Imperio . He has held visiting positions at institutions globally and actively participates in interdisciplinary dialogues between literary studies, history, and cultural geography.
University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignUnited States
Salvatore Callesano is an Assistant Professor of Hispanic Linguistics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), affiliated with the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. His research focuses on sociolinguistics, particularly bilingual communities in the U.S., language perception, and digital media representations of bilingualism. He employs both quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate how language variation interacts with identity, media, and social structures. Dr. Callesano collaborates on Project 16 of the Asociación de Lingüística y Filología de América Latina, addressing linguistic aspects of Latin American diaspora communities. His work bridges traditional sociolinguistic inquiry with modern digital practices, analyzing how social media shapes perceptions of language use among Latinx populations. Recent research highlights include studies on code-switching in Miami's linguistic landscape, dialect perception, and the role of media in mediating language attitudes. His publications span peer-reviewed articles and book reviews, emphasizing empirical rigor and interdisciplinary connections between language, culture, and society.
University of California, Los AngelesUnited States
Anna Morcom is Professor and Mohindar Brar Sambhi Chair of Indian Music in the Department of Ethnomusicology at UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music. She previously held a professorship at Royal Holloway, University of London, and earned her Ph.D. from SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) in 2002, where she also completed her undergraduate studies in Ethnomusicology and Hindi (1993-1996). Her research spans music and dance in India and Tibet, employing ethnographic and oral historical methods to examine the intersections of musical culture with politics, nationalism, identity, gender, inequality, economic development, and media. Morcom's scholarship is notable for its interdisciplinary approach that bridges traditional and popular musics with contemporary theoretical frameworks. Her work demonstrates significant trends toward examining music within economic frameworks, particularly through her founding of SEM's Special Interest Group on Economic Ethnomusicology. Recent publications increasingly focus on cultural economies, performance labor, and the relationship between artistic practice and economic systems in South Asia. Society of Ethnomusicology's Allan Merriam prize (2014) Marcia Herndon prize of SEM's Gender and Sexualities section (2014) Morcom's research has been supported by multiple grants from the Leverhulme Trust and the British Academy. She has been interviewed by prominent media outlets including BBC Radio 4's Thinking Allowed, The Hindu, Tehelka, and Scroll regarding her influential work on Indian dance cultures. As founder of SEM's Special Interest Group on Economic Ethnomusicology, she has shaped scholarly discourse on the economic dimensions of musical practice. Her current projects include the monograph on Hindustani music and co-editing two significant volumes: Creative Economies of Culture in South Asia: Craftspeople Performers (Routledge) and the Oxford Handbook of Economic Ethnomusicology (OUP).
