Cherise Harris
Associate Professor of Sociology, Director of Africana Studies
Director
Affiliated Faculty
Shakita Thomas Kpetay
Assistant Professor of Education and Africana Studies
Black Intellectual Thought • Culture Power and Education • Education Policy • Oral History • Critical Ethnography
Kendell Coker
Associate Professor of Psychology
(Sabbatical Academic Year 2025-2026)
Community/Gun Violence • Trauma • Criminal/Juvenile Justice • Systemic Racism • Mental Health Law • Social Justice
Shani Collins-Achille
Professor of Dance
Dance theory and composition • West African dance and folklore • Somatic practices • Dance history
Hubert Cook
Assistant Professor of English
Black studies • African American and Caribbean literature and culture • Black sentience • Narrative theory • Affect studies • Gender studies
Simon D. Feldman
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Ethics • Moral psychology • Feminist philosophy • Philosophy of law
Isaac Gottesman
Lenore Tingle Howard '42 Associate Professor of Education
(Sabbatical Fall 2025)
History of Education, Ideas, and Left Movements in the U.S., 1945- Present • Critical Theories of Education • History of Education as an Academic Field of Study
Rashelle Litchmore
Martha Bennett ’73 Assistant Professor of Human Development
Ethnic and Racial Identity • Middle childhood and adolescent development • Social and education policy • Applied social psychology • Intersectionality • Qualitative methods
Daniel Moak
Associate Professor of Government
(Sabbatical Fall 2025)
American Politics • Race and Ethnic Politics • Public Policy • Constitutional Law • American Political Thought
E. Carla Parker-Athill
George and Carol Milne Assistant Professor of Biology
Molecular Neuroscience • Neurobiology • Immunology
Kate Rushin
Professor of English, Poet in Residence
(Sabbatical Fall 2025)
Creative Writing/Poetry • 20th Century Black Women Writers • The African American Poetic Tradition • Women of Color Feminisms and Intersectionality • American Popular Culture, Media, Language and Poetry
Matthew Swagler
Assistant Professor of History
Modern Africa • Decolonization • Africa and the United States • Youth and Childhood • The Global 1960s
Steering Committee:
- Kendell Coker
- Shani Collins
- Hubert Cook
- Taylor Desloge
- Cherise Harris
- Andrew Lopez
- Carla Parker-Athill
- Salma Siddique
- Matt Swagler