Close up view of burrowing owl faces in a field of grass

Center for Peace, Justice and Human Rights (PJHR) AFFILIATE FACULTY & STAFF 2024-25

A.D. Henderson University School

Lindsey Wuest

M. Ed., Science through Art Teacher
Email: wuestl@fau.edu

Wuest is an artist and educator, licensed in English 6-12 and Art K-12. Lindsey teaches, researches and continuously develops the curriculum for a new K-5 special area subject: Science through Art at AD Henderson University School. She specializes in cross curricular application of visual art, with a special interest in the intersection of arts and health. Lindsey is a Teach for America Hawai'i Corps Alum with a Masters in Educational Leadership from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelors in Advertising from the University of Florida.

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Jason Mireles-James

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences
Email: jmirelesjames@fau.edu

Mireles-James is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Florida Atlantic University with research interests in dynamical systems theory and nonlinear analysis. His work focuses on emergence of complex patterns and computational methods for analyzing coherent structures in mathematical models. website

Colin Polsky

Ph.D., Director of the Center for Environmental Studies; Professor, Department of Geosciences
Email: cpolsky@fau.edu

Polsky is an environmental social scientist whose research and teaching examine how people create, perceive, and respond to environmental challenges. His inter-disciplinary training is in mathematics, humanities, French, geography, and Science & International Affairs (from U. Texas, Penn State, and Harvard). As a Center Director and Professor, he helps build and lead teams to advance knowledge of U.S. climate vulnerabilities, in both methodological and applied terms. His responsibilities include program-building, both within and across university departments; fund-raising from public and private foundations; staffing diverse and multi-generational teams; and communicating with varied audiences, for both persuasive and reporting purposes. website

Irem Korucu

Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology
E-mail: ikorucu@fau.edu

As a developmental psychologist, Korucu's research examines the development of executive function and self-regulation skills in early childhood and how contextual factors, such as the quality of early social contexts, contribute to or hinder children’s development, learning, and well-being across the lifespan. She is especially interested in studying the development of self-regulatory skills in the face of adversity and her research focuses on socioeconomically disadvantaged and ethnically diverse children with the aim of reducing the existing opportunity and achievement gaps and informing policies desired to promote the well-being of children and families.

Robin R. Vallacher

Ph.D., Professor and Interim Chair Department of Psychology
Email: Vallacher@fau.edu

Vallacher is also a Research Associate in the Center for Complex Systems, University of Warsaw, Poland, and a Research Affiliate in the Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity at Columbia University. Dr. Vallacher conducts research on a wide range of topics, from individual-level processes such as self-concept, self-control, mindfulness, and social judgment, to group- and societal-level processes such as prejudice and discrimination, social change, social justice, and social conflict. website

Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing

Louisana Louis

DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC
Email: louisl@health.fau.edu

Louis is driven by a deep passion for making a profound difference in the lives of young people and those facing mental health challenges. With a rich background in nursing, mental health, and education, she is devoted to being a steadfast guide and advocate for those who need it most. Currently, Dr. Louis serves as a faculty member within the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University. Her extensive experience as a board-certified Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, former Dean, and Chair in academia speaks to her commitment to excellence in both education and healthcare. As the owner and founder of Prestige Health and Wellness in Tampa, FL, Dr. Louis is dedicated to restoring humanity to mental health care, ensuring that every individual receives compassionate, personalized support. In addition to her professional roles, Dr. Louis serves as the chairperson of the Board of Trustees for the Florida Center for Nursing and actively contributes to her community in various capacities. Her leadership and service were recognized when she was honored as one of the Top 100 Women Leaders of Tampa in 2022. Dr. Louis’s journey is a testament to the power of faith and perseverance. Her life and work inspire all who aspire to make a lasting impact, reminding us that true success is measured by the lives we touch and the hope we bring to others.

College of Business

Kimberly Dunn

Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Accounting
Email: kdunn@fau.edu

Dunn is a founding Board Member and Executive Director of Champions Empowering Champions, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting college students who have experienced foster care or homelessness. Her personal and professional experiences, knowledge of the educational systems, ability to inspire students from diverse backgrounds, and commitment to empowering socioeconomically disadvantaged students, make Dr. Dunn a tenacious social entrepreneur. website

Jerry Durbeej

Senior Instructor, Business Communications Program, College of Business
Email: jdurbeej@fau.edu

Durbeej co-authored the article “Medicine of Mindfulness: A Prescription for Faculty Vitality and Student Learning” published in "The DeVry University Journal of Scholarly Research" in 2015. He suspects suspect there is a connection between the themes of peace, social justice and human rights and the idea of Mindfulness. Durjeeb offers that one must be mindful to truly understand the implications of these themes, and has presented this concept at various conferences. website

Richard Gendler

Ph.D., Business Law Coordinator & Instructor, College of Business
Email: Rgendler@fau.edu

Gendler serves as full time business law and ethics faculty, as well as coordinator, at the College of Business. He teaches business ethics to both undergraduate and graduate students. He has served the legal profession in ensuring ethical behavior, serving as vicechair of a Florida Bar Grievance Committee. He believes legal and business ethics are an integral part of any effort to effectuate peace, justice and human rights. website

Sarah Nielsen

Senior Instructor, Business Communications, College of Business
Email: nielsens@fau.edu

Nielsen is an Instructor in the College of Business at FAU. She teaches Business Communications courses at the undergraduate level, and has been a proud Owl since 2016. She is also a member of the Business Communications Exchange, a community partnership comprised of local employers and business faculty who gather to exchange ideas on current trends in business communication and in the business community. She is also a Board member of the Coalition to End Homelessness, committed to the organization's mission to end homelessness in Broward County.

Soyoung Park

Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Hospitality and Tourism Management Program/Department of Marketing
Email: soyoungpark@fau.edu

Park is an Assistant Professor of the Hospitality and Tourism Management Program in the Department of Marketing at Floria Atlantic. Her research utilizes advanced data analytics and unstructured data to examine social issues in tourism and hospitality involving children and minorities. Her most recent focus of research includes orphanage tourism, human trafficking in the hospitality and tourism industry, and the wellbeing of children. website

Joseph R. Rakestraw

Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Accounting
Email: jrakestraw@fau.edu

Rakestraw is an Assistant Professor in the School of Accounting in the College of Business at Florida Atlantic University with research interests include gender issues in the accounting profession, corporate governance, and auditing. His research has been published in the "Journal of Business Ethics, Accounting Horizons," the "Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance," and other journals. Dr. Rakestraw earned a Ph.D. in business from Virginia Tech, a master’s degree in accounting from George Washington University, and a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Louisville. Dr. Rakestraw is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the state of Virginia. website

Deborah Searcy

Ph.D Senior Instructor, Management Programs
Email: dsearcy@fau.edu

With a Ph.D. in Business, Searcy is faculty in the Management department at Florida Atlantic. She teaches business strategy and negotiating and was Innovative Teacher of the Year in 2021. She also consults for small businesses and her expertise has been featured in Inc. Magazine, by the BBC, Forbes, NBC, and more. Debbie currently serves as the Mayor of the Village of North Palm Beach, after first being elected to Council in 2018. When not working, she serves on the boards of Best Buddies International, the Friends of MacArthur Beach State Park, and the University of Virginia Alumni Club, and with Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce, at the Benjamin School, and St. Paul of the Cross Church. She makes her home in North Palm Beach, with her husband and two children.

College of Education

Melanie Acosta

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Curriculum, Culture and Educational Inquiry, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Email: acostam@fau.edu

Acosta's research is focused on supporting African American educational excellence through improved teaching and school supports, particularly as it relates to elementary literacy in classrooms and local communities. Her work also centers Black educators to illuminate the potential of Black intellectual traditions in transforming education and society. Her research is featured in journals such as the "Journal of Teacher Education," "Urban Education, Reading Horizons," and "Race, Ethnicity, & Education." website

Melissa A. Antonelli

Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Literacies in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Email: mantonel@fau.edu

Antonelli's practical expertise is grounded in critical literacy, literacy instruction, and teacher development. She teaches undergraduate literacy courses on curriculum and instruction, assessment and intervention, supervised literacy practicum, children’s literature, and critical literacies. Her research focuses on literacy, and curricular implementation, with particular attention to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning (LGBTQ) inclusion, curriculum, and educators. website

Eileen Ariza

Ed.D., Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Email: eariza@fau.edu

Ariza is a Teacher trainer; ESOL Specialist; Foreign Language Methodology; Bilingual Education; Three time Fulbright Scholar (Mexico, Costa Rica, and Malta); Fulbright Alumni Ambassador/Speaker; Fulbright Reviewer (Fulbright Scholars, Fulbright English Teaching Assistants-ETAs, Short Term Fulbright, Egypt Binational Center Scholars, Yearly Predeparture Orientations); Invited speaker for the president of Malta, San Anton Palace; Trainer of teachers of migrants/refugees; Research with teachers of migrants and refugees, teachers of refugee/migrants in Malta, and education of displaced families in Syria. website

Yash Bhagwanji

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Email: ybhagwan@fau.edu

A relatively new construct and direction in the field, Bhagwanki's focus on supporting children as “problem-solvers and agents of change for sustainability” has intensified over the past few years. Some early accomplishments have been a publication advancing changes in formal and informal educational programs though a formative evaluation process, development of a series of state-of-the-art preservice education courses in early childhood environmental education, and participation in national initiatives promoting children’s connection with and care for the natural world. Another outcome of his engagement and interest in early childhood environmental education has been the establishment of a new double-blind peer-reviewed journal, "International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education," for which he served as the editor since its founding in 2012. Current initiatives include the development of a Florida Environmental Literacy Plan in partnership with the League of Environmental Educators of Florida (LEEF), development of a nature playscape in partnership with FAU’s Pine Jog Environmental Education Center, and several other opportunities related to improving children’s ontological fluency about the world of nature. website

Rina Bousalis

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Curriculum, Culture and Educational Inquiry, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Email: rbousalis@fau.edu

Bousalis' research interests include immigration, multiculturalism, human rights, United States history, and global and civics education. She has co-authored a book, written articles for peer-reviewed journals such as "Social Education," "The Social Studies, Social Studies Research" and "Practice, and Multicultural Learning and Teaching," and presented at international, national, and state conferences.

Gwendolyn Carey

Ed.D., Visiting Instructor, Exceptional Student Education
Email: gcarey@fau.edu

Carey is a founding member of FAU’s Academy for Community Inclusion (ACI). ACI is a state of the art program that provides a comprehensive post-secondary education to individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (ID/DD). This is a population is often left out of the literature and discussions. Gwendolyn’s research revolves around inclusion, transition, and self-determination for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as the impact that inclusion has on other individuals within their communities.

Kelly Kearney

Ed.D., Associate Director of ACI Progams & Instructor
Email: kbrown65@fau.edu

As someone with a special education background, Kearney is highly interested in peace, social justice, and human rights. I work extensively with individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities. This population is often excluded from society-at-large and has a long history of neglect and abuse, with limited access to social justice, and infringement upon their human rights. One of my lines of research revolves around increasing self-determination skills in this population, teaching the skills needed to self-advocate and problem-solve as needed to get access to wants and needs in the community.

Torica Exume

Ph.D, Coordinator Clinical Programs, College of Education, Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD)
Email: texume@fau.edu

Exume coordinates two Florida Developmental Disabilities Council (FDDC) grants awarded to FAU CARD: an examination of the under-representation of Black children with autism and training first responders in autism. Exume advocates for parents needing guidance and support for treatment services for their special needs children. She continues to strive to make improvements in autistic children's lives. With extensive educational and hands-on training, she specializes in communication, social interactions, analysis and treatment of repetitive behavior disorders, safety skills, and more.

Alex Fields

Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Counselor Education, Department of Counselor Education
Email: fieldsa@fau.edu

Fields is a licensed mental health professional and nationally certified counselor with a clinical background in community mental health, college, and integrated behavioral health settings serving individuals from traditionally underserved communities. Due to his clinical experiences, he has a scholarly interest in the applications of integrated behavioral health models to support the wellness and quality of life of individuals who have been historically marginalized from receiving well-rounded healthcare. His recent efforts have explored wellness considerations for individuals with disabilities and chronic healthcare conditions. He also is actively engaged in the scholarship exploring the efficacy of educational interventions to train healthcare providers to work in a diverse society.

Joseph Calvin Gagnon

Ph.D. is a Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Special Education

Email: josephgagnon@fau.edu

As a former Fulbright Scholar. Gagnon’s research focuses on ensuring youth at the greatest risk for educational, behavioral, and social failure are provided the supports necessary for long-term success in school and society. He addresses the needs of youth with emotional disturbance and learning disabilities in inclusive education, as well as those who are incarcerated or in day treatment/residential education and treatment settings. Topical areas of his research include: (a) school-level policies (e.g., curriculum, assessment, and accountability); (b) mathematics and reading instruction; (c) mental health and behavioral supports; and (d) teacher training. To date, Dr. Gagnon has received over 2.5 million US dollars in funding to support his research. Dr. Gagnon also provides service to the field and works as an advocate for marginalized youth. He has served as Court Monitor and/or Special Education expert on 23 lawsuits, including seven for the U. S. Department of Justice, Office of Civil Rights. He has also presented and conducted training sessions across the U.S., Finland, and in 15 countries including Thailand, Egypt, China, Venezuela, South Africa, Turkey, and Azerbaijan.

Susanne I. Lapp

Ed.D., Associate Professor, Curriculum, Culture and Educational Inquiry, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Email: slapp@fau.edu

Lapp is member of the Peace, Justice and Human Rights Committee (PJHR) committee since 2017. As a faculty member in the College of Education’s Department of Teaching and Learning specific responsibilities have been to prepare current and future reading and language arts teachers to teach in the culturally, linguistically, and ethnically varied classroom. website

Brianna Miller

Instructor, College of Education, Special Education
Email: bjosep28@fau.edu

Miller, with her background in special education, is deeply committed to peace, justice, and human rights, particularly for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). This population has historically been excluded from many aspects of society, facing neglect and limited access to opportunities that promote independence and quality of life. Miller’s research focuses on addressing the unique needs of adults with IDD, particularly those aging with moderate to severe disabilities. One of her key areas of interest is supporting the development of life skills, such as fitness, emotional well-being, and financial literacy, empowering individuals to advocate for themselves and participate fully in society. Through her work in the Academy for Community Inclusion, Miller teaches essential self-determination skills, helping students with IDD build the confidence and autonomy needed to navigate their communities and assert their rights.

Bryan H. Nichols

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Curriculum, Culture and Educational Inquiry, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Email: nicholsb@fau.edu

Nichols coordinates the FAU Environmental Education programs (Masters, Graduate Certificate, Honors). Dr. Nichols developed earth smarts, a construct for socioenvironmental literacy, and believes there can be no sustainable peace or justice without a better understanding of our natural environments and their role in sustaining our wellbeing, particularly given the global environmental challenges we all face. His research also examines the ethical use of animals in education to boost engagement and encourage interspecies compassion. website

Bianca Nightengale-Lee

Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Curriculum, Culture and Educational Inquiry, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Email: bnightengalelee@fau.edu

As a critically engaged community scholar, Nightengale-Lee's work centers on academic, school, and community-based settings. Her research explores critical pedagogy as it relates to socially conscious, humanizing, and inclusive educational practice. Dr. Nightengale-Lee’s scholarship interrogates, resists, and re-frames traditionalized notions of curriculum development to produce equitable learning conditions for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Through her teaching she is committed to preparing the next generation of educators to meet the demands of 21st century learning contexts, which reflect the racially, socially, and politically charged structures that shape education, and the practical pathways that lead to more humanizing modes of pedagogy. website

Andrés Ramirez

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Email: ramirezj@fau.edu

Ramirez's scholarly work specializes on the exploration of economic, cultural, and linguistic issues constraining and enabling the academic literacy achievement of culturally and linguistically diverse students in the US and on connecting these issues to advocacy and sound curricular practice. His academic work is anchored on postructural materialism, critical discourse studies, critical pedagogy, legitimation code theory and systemic functional linguistics (SFL). website

Dilys Schoorman

Ph.D., Professor, Curriculum, Culture and Educational Inquiry, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Email: dschoorm@fau.edu

Schoorman's research interests in multicultural teacher education, immigrant education, family literacy, internationalization and faculty governance are informed by the principles of leadership for social justice. She teaches courses in multicultural education, curriculum and critical approaches to research at the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels. Throughout her career she has enjoyed working in partnership with educators in Broward and Palm Beach Counties in the quest for educational equity. Her work with Maya immigrants and their educators in a Family Literacy program has been a catalyst in her development as a critical scholar. She currently serves on FAU’s Diversity Council and is the Chair of the College of Education Diversity Committee and was recently appointed to the University Faculty Senate ad hoc committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Kalisha Waldon

Ph.D., Adjunct, Curriculum, Culture and Educational Inquiry, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Email: kwaldon@fau.edu

Waldon is an Adjunct instructor within the College of Education, Department of Curriculum, Culture & Educational Inquiry and has worked in the PreK-20 system for over 17 as a professor, administrator, educational consultant, and mentor. She earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis in multicultural education/critical multiculturalism and a Master’s in Reading Education, both from Florida Atlantic. Her dissertation entitled, Black Adolescents’ Critical Encounters with Media and the Counteracting Possibilities of Critical Media Literacy, was awarded the FAU College of Education 2016 Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award. Dr. Waldon is actively engaged in research and is presently studying the effects of media on adolescents’ perceptions of self. Her primary research agenda is grounded in social justice pedagogy. It is centered on the experiences and voices of historically marginalized youth. Adopting a transformative lens, one aim of her research agenda is to push beyond traditional research that looks for answers or interpretations, and to employ research methods that allow the voices, needs, and insights of participants, to emerge (Kincheloe & McLaren, 2005; Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). Her most recent publication is a co-edited textbook for pre-service teachers, "Equity Pedagogy: Teaching Diverse Student Populations."

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Bassem Alhalabi

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Computer & Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Email: alhalabi@fau.edu

Alhalabi's research interests include Embedded, Remote, IoT, and Smart Control Systems, which span over consumer, industrial, educational and medical applications. His publication record includes 16 journal papers, 53 conferences, 3 issued patents and others pending, 1 book, 4 chapters, and 3 lab manuals. He received 25 academic and special recognition awards such as the inclusion in Marquis Who’s Who for 2023, and the 2018 ASEE National Distinguished Engineering Educator Achievement. Dr. Alhalabi is a member of 15 professional and honor societies including IEEE (senior), ASEE, NEA, and ACM. He has participated in national/international professional activities including technical conferences, invited presentations, and countless industry consultations, and product development. Dr. Alhalabi is the President/CEO of RnD G’s Inc., Boca Raton, where he helped dozens of inventors get their patents and working prototypes for their innovative dream ideas and inventions.

Fernando Koch

Ph.D., Research Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Email: kochf@fau.edu

Koch is a researcher and technologist specializing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative Intelligence, with extensive experience in academia, research management, and enterprise architecture. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Utrecht University and has dedicated his career to advancing AI, particularly in Generative Intelligence, both theoretically and practically. Dr. Koch's professional journey spans academia, industry, and research, with key positions at IBM Research, Samsung Research, Melbourne University, Korea University, among others. His research interests include Collective Intelligence, Generative Intelligence, Multi-Agent Systems, and AI for Social Good. He has co-edited six books, authored over 100 patent applications, and published more than 80 scientific papers. He is teaching about Trustworthy AI and Generative Ai for Social Good solutions. He is a Senior Member of both the ACM and IEEE.

College of Social Work & Criminal Justice

Cassandra Atkin-Plunk

Ph.D., Associate Professor and Associate Director; School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Email: catkinplunk@fau.edu

Atkin-Plunk's research interests span both institutional and community corrections with an emphasis on contemporary issues in corrections, including the reentry and reintegration of individuals returning to the community from incarceration. Atkin-Plunk examines evidence-based practices and conducts program and policy evaluations to identify what works in corrections. She is the recipient of over $800,000 in external funding and has been the principal investigator (PI) or co-PI in the evaluation of programs and policies for a variety of agencies, including the Florida Department of Corrections, Palm Beach County (FL) Criminal Justice Commission, Palm Beach County Public Safety Department, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, and The Lord's Place. As evidenced, Dr. Atkin-Plunk's research is largely community-based, and she won the 2018 FAU Presidential Award for Outstanding Community-Engaged Research. Her research has been published in "Justice Quarterly," "Criminal Justice and Behavior," "Journal of Criminal Justice," "Journal of Interpersonal Violence," "Criminal Justice Policy Review," and "Journal of Offender Rehabilitation." Dr. Atkin-Plunk teaches courses in Corrections, Capital Punishment, Ethics in the Justice System, and International Criminal Justice Systems.

Allan Barsky

Professor, Phyllis and Harvey Sandler School of Social Work
Email: abarsky@fau.edu

Barsky teaches and conducts research on mediation, social advocacy, and other forms of peacemaking and conflict resolution. I also teach courses on ethics, including how to promote respect, social justice, and anti-oppression. website

Gabriel Cesar

Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Email: cesarg@fau.edu

Cesar's research examines social control, violence, and youth development. Much of that research explores how the justice system shapes the lives of young people, from the perspectives of marginalized groups such as gang members, abuse victims, and youth in state custody. Throughout his career participation in mentorship, art therapy, and outreach programs for struggling youth has informed his research, enriched his spirit, and guided his path. Gabriel’s research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as "Children & Youth Services Review" and "Youth, Violence, and Juvenile Justice," as well as edited volumes "The Oxford Handbook of Offender Decision Making," and "Doing Ethnography in Criminology: Discovery through Fieldwork."

Marianna Colvin

Ph.D., Associate Dean for Research & Academic Effectiveness, Phyllis and Harvey Sandler School of Social Work
Email: mcolvin@fau.edu

As a mixed-methods researcher, Colvin studies child welfare interventions from a community-wide orientation with emphasis on the well-being outcomes of children and families, interactions across organizations, theories of systems and complexity, and implications for policy, practice, and network development. Similar to her research interests, Dr. Colvin’s teaching reflect a community orientation, and she enjoys building community within the classroom, facilitating community-based learning, and integrating a global-community perspective across content. She is passionate about social work education and through both teaching and research, aims to enhance the ways communities and organizations are knitted together in support of children and families.

Photo of Adam Dobrin Adam Dobrin

Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Email: adobrin@fau.edu

Dobrin co-founded and held leadership positions in two international health research entities: he was the Field Coordinator for the Cochrane Justice Health Field, and was the Assistant Director of the Cochrane College for Policy at George Mason University. Dr. Dobrin is currently exploring various issues relating to volunteer policing. He sees volunteer policing as a bridge between the police and those they serve. He has produced numerous academic and professional articles and conference presentations on volunteer policing topics, and is active in a leadership role with the Volunteer Law Enforcement Officer Alliance, a 501(c)3 charity. Dr. Dobrin won FAU’s first Presidential Award for Outstanding Faculty-Led Community Engagement for Engaged Service in 2017 for his volunteer work as a road patrol deputy with his local sheriff’s office’s reserve unit. website

Kristen Gurdak

Ph.D., LCSW Visiting Assistant Professor
Email: kgurdak1@fau.edu

Gurdak’s research explores the mechanisms through which stigma impacts social integration and access to resources, with a particular focus on developing targeted interventions that enhance social support networks, reduce barriers to community participation, and address systemic biases within service delivery and community settings. Dr. Gurdak is also a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over a decade of experience in the field of social work, holding both clinical and leadership positions working with individuals with mental illness and substance use issues. Dr. Gurdak aims to uncover and address the systemic inequalities that contribute to differences in mental health outcomes, social integration, community participation, and access to care, thereby advancing social justice and promoting equitable health and quality-of-life outcomes for individuals with mental illness and diverse intersectional identities.

Michael A. Robinson

PhD, MSSW, CAADC, Director and Professor, Sandler School of Social Work
Email: michaelrobinson@fau.edu

Robinson received his B.S. Degree in Commerce from DePaul University in Chicago. Following his graduation, he served as a branch manager at a neighborhood bank and as a community liaison for the south suburbs of Chicago. He later pursued advanced studies at the University of Louisville College of Social Work and Family Science, where he earned both an MSSW and a PhD. In recognition of his achievements, Dr. Robinson was honored as the 2021 Raymond A. Kent School of Social Work Alumni Fellow. Robinson’s research is centered on African American males and their interactions with law enforcement. He utilizes Photovoice methodology to address social justice issues through photography, and he explores other pressing social issues affecting vulnerable populations. His expertise includes program evaluation, with extensive experience on projects throughout the state of Georgia. Additionally, Dr. Robinson is a Certified Advanced Addiction and Drug Counselor. A prolific author, Dr. Robinson has contributed to numerous publications, including the "Journal of Social Work Education," the "Handbook of African American Health: Social and Behavioral Interventions," and the "Community Mental Health Journal." He is the author of numerous book chapters, and co-edited two books. His insights have also been featured on PBS Panhandle and public radio. Dr. Robinson has received several accolades for his impactful work, including the 2017 Conference on Racial Ethnic and Cultural Diversity Award for the most impactful article and the 2019 Florence W. Vigilante Award for co-authoring a publication with scholars from across the country. He is a past board member of the Council on Social Work Education, where he chaired the Commission on Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice.

Dawn Rothe

PH.D., Professor, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Email: rothed@fau.edu

Rothe's research is centered around issues of inequality, oppression, politics and power. This includes systems of oppression, inherent harms and violence of the broader structures globally and nationally, crimes and harms of the powerful, the harms of neoliberalism and of the patriarchal structure. I regularly teach courses here at FAU topics including violence against women: pop culture, politics and patriarchy; white-collar crime or what I call crimes of the powerful. website

Lea DeRigne

Ph.D., Professor, Phylis & Harvey Sandler School of Social Work
Email: lderigne@fau.edu

DeRigne's area of research expertise is in employment policy and health care policy, specifically analyzing how having paid sick leave increases access to health care services and stabilizes financial security in working-class families. She is committed to a broad array of social justice issues including living wage campaigns, access to employment benefits, increasing racial and gender equality, increasing fairness in our criminal justice system, overturning the death penalty, and tackling the problems of police misconduct and brutality. She loves teaching and hopes to inspire social work students to be involved in social change movements throughout their careers.

Mara Schiff

Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Email: mschiff@fau.edu

Schiff has been a restorative justice scholar, practitioner, speaker and advocate for nearly 30 years. She is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida Atlantic University, Vice-President of the National Association for Community and Restorative Justice (NACRJ), and President of PeaceWorks Consulting, Inc. In 2018, she ran for local office and was publicly elected to serve a 4-year term on the School Board of the School District of Indian River County Schools (Florida), where she currently serves as Vice-Chairwoman. Dr. Schiff’s academic work examines restorative philosophy and practice in criminal-legal, juvenile, and educational arenas, exploring whether or how restorative approaches might overcome systemic, institutionalized forms of exclusion, marginalization and injustice. Most recently, she has been exploring the limitations of restorative language and narrative, and how restorative approaches must be contextualized alongside other pervasive forms of institutionalized structural violence. She has authored multiple books, book chapters and articles in academic journals. website

Precious Skinner-Osei

Ph.D., Interim Director and Assistant Professor, College of Social Work and Criminal Justice
Email: pskinnerosei@fau.edu

kinner-Osei's research interests are in the areas of mass incarceration, criminal justice reform, justice-involved African American fathers, and trauma-informed care for justice-involved youth. She has professional practice experience with justice-involved parents and children, food insecurity, HIV/AIDS, persons experiencing homelessness, and community outreach. She is an undergraduate program coordinator and instructor in the School of Social Work. She teaches Social Welfare Policy, Communities, and Organizations, Global Perspectives of Social Services, Research Methods, and Introduction to the Profession of Social Work. She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers, National Organization of Forensic Social Work, and International Association of Schools of Social Work. She also serves on the boards of The Poverello Center, Inc., and Impact Justice & Equity Solutions, Inc. website

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Stephanie Anderson

MFA, Assistant Professor of Creative Nonfiction, Department of English
Email: andersonstep@fau.edu

Stephanie Anderson is the author of "From the Ground Up: The Women Revolutionizing Regenerative Agriculture" (The New Press, 2024). Her work has appeared in "The Rumpus, TriQuarterly," "Flyway," "Hotel Amerika," "Terrain.org," "The Chronicle Review," "Sweet" and others. Stephanie is the 2020 winner of the Margolis Award for social justice journalism and a co-editor for the University of Nebraska Press “Our Regenerative Future” book series. Her debut nonfiction book, titled "One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl’s Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture," won a 2020 Nautilus Award and 2019 Midwest Book Award.

Nicholas Baima

Associate Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy
Email: nbaima@fau.edu

Baima is a philosopher specializing in ancient Western philosophy and ethics. His research often explores the connection between classical philosophical ideas and contemporary moral issues, with a particular emphasis on how ancient wisdom can inform modern debates on ethics, epistemology, technology, and human flourishing. Dr. Baima's work bridges the gap between theoretical inquiry and practical application, examining topics such as virtue ethics, the philosophy of games, sports, & martial arts, and environmental responsibility. Through his teaching and writing, he aims to make philosophy accessible and relevant, encouraging others to engage deeply with enduring questions about the good life and moral values.

Stacey Balkan

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of English
Email: sbalkan@fau.edu

Balkan received her Ph.D. in English from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), and her teaching and research interests include Environmental Literature(s), Ecocriticism, Environmental/Energy Justice, Global South and Postcolonial Studies,and Petrocultures & Petromodernity. Recent articles on environmental/energy justice and just futures include “Energo-poetics: Reading Energy in the Ages of Wood, Oil, and Wind” ("Revue Etudes Anglaise"). Her forthcoming edited collection "Oil Fictions: World Literature and our Contemporary Petrosphere" (Penn State University Press, 2021) examines aesthetic registers of imperial violence in postcolonialstates; and her forthcoming monograph "Rogues in the Postcolony: Narrating Extraction and Itinerancy in India" (West Virginia University Press, 2021) documents the intersection(s) between landscape ideology, agricultural improvement, historical trauma, and aesthetic expression on the subcontinent.Stacey is also a frequent contributor to Public Books and believes strongly in the role of the public intellectual as a scholar-activist. website

Evan Bennett

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of History
Email: ebennett@fau.edu

Evan Bennett is a historian of the American South whose research focuses on the intersections of rural, environmental, and labor history. He is author of "Tampa Bay: The Story of an Estuary and Its People" (University Press of Florida, 2024), "When Tobacco Was King: Families, Farm Labor, and Federal Policy in the Piedmont" (University Press of Florida, 2014). He is also co-editor of "Beyond Forty Acres and a Mule: African American Landowning Families since Reconstruction" (University Press of Florida, 2012). Bennett's research explores the intersections of race, labor, and environment, particularly in the American South. website

Ayşe Papatya Bucak

MFA, Associate Professor, Department of English
Email: pbucak@fau.edu

Bucak is the author of the short story collection "The Trojan War Museum" (Norton) which was awarded the Spotlight Award by the Story Prize. Her writing has been published in a variety of journals and reprinted in the O. Henry and Pushcart Prize anthologies.

Oliver Buckton

Chair and Professor, Department of English
Email: obuckton@fau.edu

Buckton teaches courses in Victorian and modern British literature,film, literary theory, and espionage fiction. His recent research explores the intersections of intelligence history, political history, and espionage fiction. He is the author of "Secret Selves: Confession and Same-Sex Desire in Victorian Autobiography" (1998), "Cruising with Robert Louis Stevenson: Travel, Narrative, and the Colonial Body"(2007), "Espionage in British Literature and Film Since 1900: The Changing Enemy" (2015 ),"The Many Facets of Diamonds Are Forever: James Bond on Page and Screen" (2019) and "The World is Not Enough: A Biography of Ian Fleming" (2021) and "Counterfeit Spies: How World War II EsP-ionage Shaped Cold War Spy Fiction" (2024 ). Oliver Buckton has twice been the recipient of Florida Atlantic's Creative Scholar of the Year Award (1998-99, 2008-09). He was selected as Lifelong Learning Society Distinguished Professor in Arts and Humanities for 2015-16. In 2021, Oliver Buckton was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Malaga, Spain, where he researched and taught on international intelligence and spy fiction. He is currently working to build a Joint Espionage Studies Network with the University of Roehampton, UK.

Carla Calargé

Ph.D., Professor of French and Francophone Studies, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Email: ccalarge@fau.edu

Calargé's research interests are grounded in postcolonial studies, feminist theory, as well as visual and cultural studies. Postcolonial studies is a discipline that is concerned with issues related to the human, cultural, economic, as well as political consequences on those countries and peoples who underwent the colonial, anti-colonial, and/or post-colonial experience. It analyzes the production, dissemination and circulation of representations of and knowledge about the dominated Other. She explores French-speaking literature and cultural production of the Arab world (with a special emphasis on Algeria and Lebanon) and the (silenced) memories of the different war(s) that ravaged the region with the repercussions that those wars have in the present day region. Issues such as torture, trauma, and the many legacies of the colonial period are at the core of her investigation. website

Annabelle Campbell

Ph.D. Candidate, Comparative Studies Program at Florida Atlantic University
Email: annabellecam2013@my.fau.edu

Campbell specializes in the ideological dynamics of housing policy and housing justice, particularly within the state of Florida. She is a key member of a research team conducting an emergency housing study, which aims to inform policy recommendations for a City Commission and contribute to community-driven solutions for local housing justice. In addition to her research endeavors, Annabelle teaches courses in international relations, offering students a nuanced understanding of global governance, conflict, and human rights.

Jane Caputi

Ph.D., Professor, Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Email: jcaputi@fau.edu

My research and teaching expertise is in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, with a focus on gender-based violence and American Studies and Popular Culture Studies. My books and films address the heroization of the serial sex killer in popular culture, nuclearism, and the enmeshment of environmental destruction in gender-based violence. website

Laurie Carney

MPA, CAP 9 (R), Senior Director of Development and Outreach
Email: lcarney@fau.edu

Major gifts officer at Florida Atlantic University since December 1999 responsible for development activities within the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education (since 2008) and more recently programs related to the Peace, Justice and Human Rights.

Stephen Charbonneau

Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Email: scharbo1@fau.edu

Charbonneau’s research is humanistic in orientation and centers on the theory and history of documentary aesthetics and practice in cinema, video, and digital media. Most of my focus has been on community-based, non-theatrical, or activist forms of documentary that aim to be collaborative in one form or another. My books include "Projecting Race: Postwar America, Civil Rights, and Documentary Film" (Wallflower/Columbia UP) and "InsUrgent Media from the Front: A Media Activism Reader (co-edited with Chris Robe; Indiana UP). website

Véronique Côté

Galleries Director
Email: vcote@fau.edu

Véronique Côté was appointed Galleries Director in August 2022. Côté holds an MA in Museum Studies and a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Harvard University, an MFA in Photography from the University at Buffalo, and a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Quebec in Chicoutimi. As an interdisciplinary scholar, French-Canadian immigrant, and Métisse, her multifaceted academic and mixed cultural backgrounds compel her to seek multidisciplinary artistic expression and educational approaches. Her curatorial vision blurs colonial disciplinary definitions by seeking a collaborative dialogue between Humanities, Natural Sciences, History, and Art through a practice called visual anthropology. Before her move to FAU, she was the Executive Director & Chief Curator at the Center for Exploratory & Perceptual Arts, in Buffalo, NY. Côté was also employed at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, where she developed the Citi Foundation Leadership Training and Internship Curriculum. This experience fueled her commitment to supporting career development and inclusive professional practices.

James Cunningham

Ph.D., Professor, Department of Music
Email: jcunning@fau.edu

Cunningham's research includes community-engaged music composition and performance, College Liaison APAI (Association of the Performing Arts of India). website

Sika Dagbovie-Mullins

Ph.D., Professor, Department of English
Email: sdagbovi@fau.edu

Sika Dagbovie-Mullins is associate professor of English in the Department of English where she specializes in modern and contemporary African American literature. She is author of Crossing B(l)ack: Mixed-Race Identity in Modern American Fiction and Culture (U of Tennessee Press 2013) and co-editor of the forthcoming Mixed-Race Superheroes (Rutgers University Press 2021) with Eric Berlatsky. website

Jessica (Jess) Dickson

Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Anthropology
Email: dicksonj@fau.edu

Jessica (Jess) Dickson is an anthropologist of film, media, and technology. Her current research explores the changing social worlds of international film and television production, with a focus on ‘global Hollywood's’ expansion in South Africa. Her broader interests include the social impact of new visual technologies, labor, the production of science fiction cinema, postcolonial urbanism, and imaginaries of the future. website

Shane Eason

Associate Professor and Associate Director, School of Communication & Multimedia Studies (SCMS)
Email: eason@fau.edu

Shane Eason is a dedicated scholar and filmmaker. His academic focus encompasses expanded cinema, experimental and documentary filmmaking, along with a critical exploration of representations of masculinity in popular culture. Simultaneously, he immerses himself in diverse landscapes across various geographical regions that impact underrepresented communities, aiming to unravel intricate textures and personal associations. Notable projects include "PAPA," the film series "SIN BIN," "He Sees Dead People," “Mangroves,” and the upcoming film in development, “Rockets’ Red Glare.” Within these diverse realms of media, he conducts a rigorous reevaluation of conventional cinematic norms, transcending narrative constraints and clichés to delve into alternative non-narrative forms. website

Meredith A.B. Ellis

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
Email: ellism@fau.edu

Meredith Ellis is an historical bioarchaeologist who specializes in combining skeletal remains and social theory. In particular, her work has focused on three themes: childhood, race, and ethics. She has worked on remains from a 19th century abolitionist congregation, a 19th century Chinese mining camp starvation site, and an early 20th century hurricane. She also has participated in compliance and repatriation work under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. She teaches courses on topics that include focuses on race and ethics. She is the author of the 2019 book The Children of Spring Street: The Bioarchaeology of Childhood in a 19th Century Abolitionist Congregation. website

Andres Espinoza Agurto

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Music
Email: espinozaa@fau.edu

Dr. Espinoza Agurto has been playing percussion since he was 8 years old. He studied Afro-Cuban percussion at the Escuela Nacional de Arte (ENA) in La Habana, Cuba, graduated summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music, receiving a BM in Jazz Composition, and holds an MA in Jazz studies and Ethnomusicology from the University of York (England). He received his Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from Boston University in 2014. His upcoming book (Michigan State University Press) is titled Una Sola Casa: Salsa Consciente and the Poetics of the Meta-barrio, and analyzes the impact of Salsa music as a forging element of social and political identity within Latino and Latin American communities. He is also the composer, musical director, and percussionist of his band Ayé. website

Regis Fox

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of English
Email: mannr@fau.edu

Regis M. Fox earned her Ph. D in English from the University of California, Riverside. Her primary research interests include Nineteenth-Century American Literatures, Feminist Theory, and African-American Literary and Cultural Studies. She has published in such journals as Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal and the Journal of American Studies, and in edited collections, including the volume A Determined Life: The Elizabeth Keckley Reader. Her first book, Resistance Reimagined: Black Women's Critical Thought as Survival (2017), addressed understudied authors and thinkers who critique fundamental discourses of American liberalism. She engages in social justice and diversity-oriented community service on and off campus. website

Luzmarina Garcia

Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
Email: luzmarinagarcia@fau.edu

Luzmarina Garcia completed her Ph.D. in political science at the University of Illinois. Her research investigates the health of American courts with an eye to public opinion, representation, and inter-branch relations. She is especially interested in gender and judicial decision-making and the study of these topics in administrative courts, such as immigration and tax courts. Research: Judicial politics, Political Behavior and Identity Politics. Teaching: American Politics and Judicial Politics. website

Nuria Godón

Ph.D, Associate Professor of Spanish, Department of Languages, Linguistics, and Comparative Literature
Email: ngodon@fau.edu

I am interested on questions of social justice and human rights linked to gender, sexuality, migration, and Hispanic national identities. I have included these areas of interest in my teaching, research, and service through different activities including: course contents, books and articles, the organization of three international symposiums (2014, 2018 & 2019); and the co-organization, along with Dr. Alejandra Aguilar, of the series of Conversations on Literature, Languages and Social Justice. I have also been the guest curator of the art exhibition entitled, "The Farewells. Photographs by Alberto Martí" (Schmidt Center Gallery, FAU, October 24, 2019 - January 26, 2020) that documented the mass migration of people from Galicia (Northwest of Spain) to the Americas between 1957 and 1963. This creative work has inspired my new book project on mass migration of people from Northwest of Spain to the Americas between 1880 and 1930. website

Robert (Ted) Gutsche, Jr.

Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Email: rgutsche@fau.edu

Ted examines cultures of journalism, applying critical and cultural approaches to how digital content creators and journalists work as both power and change agents while adopting and reproducing authoritative and hegemonic explanations for local and world events. website: robertgutschejr.com

Eric Hanne

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of History
Email: ehanne@fau.edu

Hanne's research focuses on Medieval Islamic socio-political history and culture; manifestation of power and authority; medieval political thought. website

Wendy Hinshaw

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of English and Director of English Writing Programs
Email: whinshaw@fau.edu

Hinshaw’s research and service focus on writing programs in prisons and prison-university partnerships. She is currently involved in projects to expand access to postsecondary education in Florida prisons and to remove college admissions barriers for formerly incarcerated Florida students. website

Michael Horswell

Ph.D., Dean and Professor, Dorothy F Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Email: horswell@fau.edu

Dr. Horswell specializes in the literature and culture of the colonial period as well as indigenous literatures of the Andes. His first book, Decolonizing the Sodomite: Queer Tropes of Sexuality in Colonial Andean Culture (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005), focused on indigenous gender and sexuality as tropes used in the representation of the conquest and colonization of the Americas. His interest in the confluence of sexuality and culture in the Hispanic world has led to two recent collections of essays co-edited with Dr. Nuria Godón, Sexualidades Periféricas. Consolidaciones literarias y fílmicas en la España de fin de siglo XIX y fin de milenio (Madrid: Fund amentos, 2016) and the special issue of the Journal of Language and Sexuality on the theme of "Transnational Discourses of Peripheral Sexualities in the Hispanic World" (Vol. 5, no. 2: 2016). Dr. Horswell has also published articles and book chapters on important literary figures such as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala and el Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Latin American cinema and the Baroque in the Americas. website

Phillip A. Hough

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
Email: phough2@fau.edu

Phillip A. Hough’s main areas of expertise are political economy, labor and agrarian movements, global commodity studies, comparative and world historical sociology, and Latin American development. He regularly teaches Drugs and Society, Labor and Globalization, and Sociological Theory at the undergraduate level. He teaches Labor and Globalization, Economic Sociology, Research Methods and Design, and Sociology of Development at the graduate level. His recent book, At the Margins of the Global Market: Making Workers, Commodities, and Crisis in Rural Colombia (Cambridge University Press 2021) uses qualitative and comparative-historical methods to analyze labor/agrarian struggles in Colombia’s coffee, bananas, and coca-producing regions. His current research projects include local research on the social struggles of migrant farmworker families in Florida and world-historical analysis of displaced persons, transnational migrants, and surplus populations. website

Courtney Jones

DMA, Associate Professor of Music; Artistic Director, Jazz Ensembles; Trumpet; Jazz Band
Email: courtneyjones@fau.edu

Jones is an award-winning performing and recording artist who has also emerged as a leading figure in contemporary performance and pedagogy, conducting, and service to inner-city youth through music outreach programs research includes 20th Century Performance Art in relation to Culture and Social Injustices. website

Yangsook Kim

Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology
Email: kimy@fau.edu

Yangsook Kim is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Florida Atlantic University. Her research conceives care as a key locus to analyze intersecting inequities of migration, gender, race, and labor. As a critical ethnographer, she is particularly interested in how marginalized people maneuver or resist the deepening inequalities. She is currently studying the ongoing immigration reform in South Korea and its impacts on low-waged care workers. Through collaboration with her community partners in South Korea and US, Yangsook seeks out activist scholarship that produces social justice-oriented knowledge. She also engages with advocacy activates, hoping to contribute to more inclusive global conversations across academia and advocacy. website

Carter Koppelman

Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology
Email: ckoppelman@fau.edu

Koppelman’s research examines how states use development and social policies to manage the urban poor, and how those policies are used and contested by individuals, community organizations, and social movements to claim dignity and inclusion in unequal societies. In the classroom, Professor Koppelman teaches in the areas of development & globalization, social theory, social movements, and various aspects of cities and urban life. His teaching is guided by a commitment to help students develop critical and global perspectives on the social forces that shape their everyday lives, and provide tools for analyzing and acting on the challenges and opportunities faced by their communities and the world at large. website

Annette LaRocco

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Email: laroccoa@fau.edu

LaRocco's research focuses on state-society relations as they relate to biodiversity conservation in southern Africa, as well as the international relations that structural environmental governance processes in the Global South. This approach considers biodiversity conservation not as simply a technical, scientific or apolitical process but as one that is inextricably connected to the political processes of the international system, postcolonial statehood, and citizen-state relations. website

Karen Leader

Ph.D., Associate Professor of Art History, Department of Visual Arts and Art History
Email: kleader@fau.edu

Former director of the Barb Schmidt Fellowship: Cultivating Community Involvement, Advocacy, and Social Change. Founded in 2018, this dual-enrollment high school program provides students with the skills and knowledge to initiate, execute, and sustain a social movement. Partnering with Peaceful Mind, Peaceful Life, this is underpinned by a strong ethos of mindfulness, the necessity for activism to include self-care and sustainable expenditures of physical and emotional energy, in order to have maximum impacts. website

Stacy Lettman

Assistant Professor, Department of English
Email: lettmans@fau.edu

Lettman’s research deals with violence in the Caribbean with a focus on the legacies of slavery and colonialism, particularly issues of race, colorism, class, and the ways in which hegemonic institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank maintain and entrench the inequities between the Global North and Global South. The economic destabilization in the Caribbean, for instance, has led to increasing violence that stem from the socio-economic condition. In her book project, she investigate how these issues are represented in literary and musical texts and the ways in which the representations not only mediate but also mitigate violence. website

Rebecca LeMoine

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Email: rlemoine@fau.edu

Dr. LeMoine specializes and teaches in political theory, a subfield of political science concerned with fundamental theoretical questions underlying the study of politics, such as, What is justice? Which form of government is the best? What should the purpose of government be? What rights and responsibilities do citizens have?Her specific research interests lie in bringing ancient Greek political thought to bear on contemporary discussions related to cultural diversity , cross-cultural engagement, and global justice. She is the author of Plato's Caves: The Liberating Sting of Cultural Diversity (Oxford University Press, 2020), and her work has been published in numerous academic journals including the American Political Science Review, History of Political Thought, Political Theory, and Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought.

Philip Lewin

Associate Professor and the Associate Chair of the Sociology Department
Email: lewinp@fau.edu

Philip Lewin is an Associate Professor and the Associate Chair of the Sociology Department. His current research focuses on housing insecurity in South Florida. He recently completed an “Emergency Housing Study and Policy Response Analysis” for the City of Lake Worth Beach, which examined the scope, causes, and consequences of housing distress across the city and provided policy recommendations for making housing conditions more affordable, equitable, and secure. His previous research explored how economic decline, mining-related pollution, government malfeasance, and opioid addiction have impacted communities in Central Appalachia. This work documented the hardships these challenges have created, how communities are responding, and the factors influencing the success or failure of movements aimed at positive social change. Lewin has also studied youth subcultures. His research on punks and, more recently, on meme stock traders, explores how young people use subcultures to express unmet needs, adapt to blocked opportunities, and critique the deficiencies they perceive in mainstream society.

Benno Lowe

Ph.D., Professor, Department of History
Email: bplowe@fau.edu

Dr. Lowe specializes in early modern European history, with particular attention to the mid-Tudor period. His research focuses on the religion, social ideology and political culture of England during the early Reformation (c.1530-60). At the moment, he is working on a book about Bishop John Hooper (d.1555) and how his theology was interpreted within particular social settings. website

Greg A. Lukasik

Ph.D., Senior Instructor, Department of Sociology
Email: glukasik@fau.edu

For my involvement in “Solidarity,” a pro-democracy movement in Poland, I received a political refugee status from the U.S. Embassy in Greece. While in Greece, I co-founded School for Children of Political Refugees in Athens. I immigrated to the United States to study biology at Indiana University in Bloomington. I completed my Ph.D. in sociology at Florida State University. My scholarly and teaching interests are in the area of social movements, globalization, social problems, and environmental sociology. I have contributed as a reviewer to the "American Journal of Sociology," the "Social Science History," and the "International Journal of Comparative Sociology," and as an author or co-author to the "American Journal of Sociology" and the McGraw Hill’s “Sociology in the News” blog.

Doug McGetchin

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of History
Email: dmcgetch@fau.edu

McGetchin is a past PJHR Interim Director (2019-2020), PJHR Associate Director (Jupiter) (2016-2019), and Director of the FAU Peace Studies Program (2012-13). His research and teaching on topics relating to peace include nonviolence and Gandhi in world history, modern Germany, modern Europe, and ancient and modern South Asia. He received a Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego, specializing in cultural, political, and intellectual connections between Germany and India. He has held a Nehru-Fulbright senior research grant in Kolkata (Calcutta), India and a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) grant to study in Leipzig and Berlin. website

Linda Medvin

M.Ed., Director, The Arthur Gutterman and Emalie Family Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education in the Center for Peace, Justice and Human Rights
Email: lmedvin@fau.edu

Linda Medvin is the Director of FAU’s Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education (CHHRE). Prior to joining FAU in July, 2015, she worked for Broward County Public Schools for 27 years as a middle school teacher, a resource teacher for Holocaust Education, and as the District’s Multicultural Curriculum Specialist overseeing Florida Statute 1003.42: Required Instruction of the Holocaust, African and African-American History, Women’s and Hispanic Contributions to the United States. A member of the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) Commissioner’s Task Force on Holocaust Education since 1996, she has served as Chair since 2009

Jeffrey Morton

Ph.D., Professor and Pierrepont Comfort Chair, Department of Political Science
Email: jmorton@fau.edu

Jeffrey S. Morton is the Pierrepont Comfort Chair in Political Science and a Fellow at the Foreign Policy Association. Since 1996, he has directed the university's Diplomacy Program. The author of three books and numerous journal articles, professor Morton received his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina with a specialization in international law. . website

Jacqueline Mullen 

M.Ed., Instructor, Department of English

Jacqueline Mullen is a dedicated advocate and scholar, driven by a profound commitment to LGBTQIA, gender, cultural, and racial justice. Their academic and activism work centers on the urgent need for decolonization in both the environment and in the lives of those who endure perpetual violence and dehumanization. With a relentless focus on social justice, Jacqueline earned their BA and MA in English at Florida Atlantic University, and in the future plans on continuing with doctoral work at FAU in Comparative Studies, focusing on English and Gender Studies. While in graduate school, they received a fellowship from the Center for Peace, Justice, and Human Rights Initiative due to their activist work within our community. Their academic journey has been characterized by a deep exploration of several critical areas, including Literature and the Environment, Modernism, Postcolonial Studies, Multicultural and Gender Studies, and Indigenous Religious Rhetoric. Through their research and activism, they seek to bridge the gap between academia and real-world change, championing the rights and well-being of marginalized communities and advocating for a more inclusive, equitable society. They are dedicated to making a positive impact on the world by promoting decolonization, justice, and resistance to violence and oppressive forces in all aspects of life.

Caren Neile

Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, School of Communication & Multimedia Studies
Email: cneile@fau.edu

Neile is a former Peace Corps volunteer. She developed and has taught the course "Peace, Conflict and Oral Narrative" for a decade. She received a Woodrow Wilson Foundation Grant for work on storytelling for peace with the National Storytelling Network and edited a special issue on storytelling and social justice for the academic journal Storytelling, Self, Society (Wayne State UP). Dr. Neile developed a multi-year storytelling for peace program for Boca Middle School with the support of Boca Raton Sunrise Rotary, performed "A Soldier's Story" with the support of FAU's Peace Studies Program, and is currently developing a peace project to be implemented in the West Bank in 2021. website

Angela Nichols

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Interim Director of the Peace, Justice and Human Rights
Email: nicholsa@fau.edu

Professor Nichols’ research broadly focuses on issues related to human rights and conflict. Her book Impact, Legitimacy, and Limitations of Truth Commissions examines how truth commissions may or may not contribute to positive outcomes following periods of conflict or mass abuse. She has articles published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution, International Studies Perspectives, Cooperation and Conflict, Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict, and Civil Wars. Dr. Nichols’ newest work examines the causes and consequences of women’s engagement in rebel groups. website

Lucas Perelló

Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
Email: lperello@fau.edu

Dr. Perelló is an assistant professor of political science. He received his Ph.D. from The New School. His research focuses on democracy and electoral behavior in Latin America and the Caribbean. He received a 2019-20 Fulbright grant to complete his dissertation fieldwork in Honduras. Dr. Perelló’s research has been published in the Journal of Democracy, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Studies in Comparative International Development, Contemporary Politics, Journal of Politics in Latin America, and Politics. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Policy, and Americas Quarterly. Prior to joining Florida Atlantic University, Dr. Perelló taught at Marist College, Skidmore College, and New York University. lucasperello.com

Ilene Prusher

M.A., Senior Instructor, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Email: iprusher@fau.edu

Ilene Prusher is an award-winning journalist, author and lecturer. As a foreign correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor from 1996-2010, she covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and served as the newspaper’s bureau chief in Jerusalem, Istanbul and Tokyo. Most recently she served as Jerusalem correspondent for TIME Magazine, a columnist for Haaretz, and a program host on TLV1 Radio. Her work has also been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Guardian and The Financial Times. website

Palina Prysmakova

Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Public Administration
Email: pprysmakova@fau.edu

Prysmakova is an Assistant Professor of the School of Public Administration, and the core lecturer at their Masters of Nonprofit Management Program. As a devoted instructor, she promotes the social justice and equal access to the public services both domestic and globally. In addition, stands for the protection of the human rights with the special focus on her home country Belarus. Through the years of research and service, she has been raising the awareness about the crimes against humanity and genocide of the nation that have been taking place there under the dictatorial destructive regime of its illegitimate president. website

Christopher Robé

Ph.D., Professor, Film and Media Studies/ Literature, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Email: crobe@fau.edu

Robé's research concerns the use of media by various activist groups in their quest for a more equitable world. In the twenty-first century, media does not simply offer a representational platform for disenfranchised voices, but more importantly serves as a material practice to engage in collective struggles for equity, justice, and more sustainable systems. I have written about U.S. radical film culture in the 1930s in my book Left of Hollywood: Cinema, Modernism, and the Emergence of U.S. Radical Film Culture (U of Texas Press, 2010) and have published numerous articles on media activism within various journals like Cinema Journal, Jump Cut, Framework, Journal of Film and Video, and Film History. My recent book, Breaking the Spell: A History of Anarchist Filmmakers, Videotape Guerrillas, and Digital Ninjas, explores the emergence of anarchist-based video activism. I have recently edited an essay collection with Stephen Charbonneau tentatively called InsUrgent Media: A Media Activism Reader, slated for publication in Spring 2020 (Indiana University Press). website

Alka Sapat

Ph.D., Professor and Director, School of Public Administration
Email: asapat@fau.edu

Sapat's expertise encompasses disaster management, public policy processes, vulnerability and resilience assessment, and methodology.  She was a research fellow with the National Science Foundation's "Next Generation of Hazards Researchers" program and has been involved in a number of initiatives including NSF and DHS funded projects on  building code regulations, disaster-induced population displacement, post-disaster housing, the role of the Haitian diaspora and NGOs in disaster recovery, port recovery, and critical infrastructure resilience.   Her work has been published in the Natural Hazards Review, Public Administration Review, the American Review of Public Administration, Risk Analysis, Natural Hazards, the International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, and other scholarly venues. Her teaching interests include disaster management and homeland security, disaster planning and public policy, research methods, and statistical analysis. She serves on the Florida State Disaster Housing Task Force and the Governor's Hurricane Conference committee, along with serving on local committees on post-disaster housing initiatives. She is the coauthor of the 2014 book Displaced by Disasters: Recovery and Resilience in a Globalizing World, and co-editor of the 2017 book Coming Home after Disaster: Multiple Dimensions of Housing Recovery. 

Edward Schwerin

Ph.D., Professor, Department of Political Science
Email: schwerin@fau.edu

Schwerin's research includes: International Political Economy, Policy Analysis, Political Risk Analysis, and Globalization. website

Susan Schneider

Ph.D., William F. Dietrich Distinguished Professor of Philosophy; Director, Center for the Future Mind | Email: sschneider@fau.edu

Dr. Susan Schneider received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Rutgers University and she is the William F. Dietrich Professor of Philosophy.  Dr. Schneider studies the nature of the mind, with an interest in emerging technologies and how that will shape the future of humanity.  In collaboration with Brain Institute, Dr. Schneider is leading the FAU Initiative on the Future of the Mind, to investigate the scientific and social impact of emerging 21st century technologies, such as artificial intelligence, with an emphasis on classic philosophical approaches. Prior to coming to Florida Atlantic University, Dr. Schneider held a number of distinguished positions.  She was the NASA-Baruch Blumberg Chair at the Library of Congress and NASA, the Distinguished Scholar Chair at the Library of Congress, and the Director of the AI, Mind and Society ("AIMS") Group at the University of Connecticut, where she was also Professor of philosophy and cognitive science. Dr. Schneider writes about the nature of the self and mind, especially from the vantage point of philosophy, AI, cognitive science, and astrobiology.  Within philosophy, she has explored the computational nature of the brain in her academic book, The Language of Thought: A New Direction.  More recently, she defended an anti-materialist position about the fundamental nature of mind.  In her new book,  "Artificial You: AI and the Future of the Mind," she brings these topics together in an accessible way, discussing the philosophical implications of AI and, in particular, the enterprise of "mind design." Dr. Schneider's work in philosophy of AI has taken her to Washington, where she meets with members of Congress and gives presentations on AI and on topics such as data privacy, algorithmic bias, technological unemployment, autonomous weapons, and more.  Dr. Scheider appears frequently on television shows on PBS and The History Channel, as well as providing keynote addresses at AI ethics conferences, at universities such as Harvard and Cambridge.  She also writes opinion pieces for The New York Times, Scientific American, and the Financial Times.  Her work has been widely discussed in the media, at venues like The New York Times, Science, Big Think, Nautilus, Discover, and Smithsonian. Dr. Schneider is currently working on a new book on the shape of intelligent systems, to be published by W.W. Norton in the United States and by Oxford University Press in the United Kingdom.

Jermaine Scott

Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of History
Email: scottj@fau.edu

Scott's research and teaching interests include the African American and African Diaspora History, Cultural Politics of Sport, Black Politics, Black Diaspora Studies, Black Popular Culture, and Postcolonial Studies. His manuscript-in-progress, Black Teamwork: Football and Black Politics in the African Diaspora, is a racial history of soccer across the African Diaspora and the tactics Black collectives used to challenge the colonial constitution of modern sports, and football/soccer in particular. His writings have been included in the Journal of Sports History, the Journal of African American History, the African American Intellectual History Society’s Black Perspectives, and ESPN’s The Undefeated. website

Mehrdad Sedaghat

Assistant Professor, Graphic Design
Email: msedaghatbaghban@fau.edu

Mehrdad Sedaghat is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, and educator based in Florida. His creative practice navigates the complex interplay of cultural identity, diaspora, and the human experience in multicultural societies. Drawing from his life between Iran and the United States, Mehrdad’s work explores the emergence of a hybrid visual culture through installations that integrate typography, imagery, objects, sound, and video. Guided by an Eastern philosophical and poetic perspective, his art examines the challenges faced by immigrants in Western societies, offering a nuanced perspective on the tensions between belief and fact, memory and reality, intuition and materialism. Mehrdad’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum and the 14th Florence Biennale. Currently an Assistant Professor at Florida Atlantic University, he aims to prepare students for professional practice and foster an understanding of art and design as a means of social dialogue.
mehrdadsedaghat.com

Gerald Sim

Ph.D., Professor Film Studies, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Email: gsim@fau.edu

Sim’s research and teaching is grounded in theoretically informed film and media studies. His writing appears in Convergence, positions, Discourse, Rethinking Marxism, Projections, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Asian Cinema, and Film Quarterly. They include essays about data Platonism in Moneyball, Netflix’s data operations and its place in media history, CNBC personality Jim Cramer’s Marxist investment advice, Edward Said’s influence on film studies, film music theory, and cinema’s transition to digital cinematography. website

Laura Tanner

Assistant Professor, Department of Visual Art and Art History
Email: grahaml@fau.edu

Bio to come.

Taryne Jade Taylor

Ph.D., Advanced Assistant Professor of Science Fiction Studies, Department of English
Email: ttaylor5@fau.edu

Taylor earned her PhD from the University of Iowa with a graduate certificate in Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies. Dr. Taylor is a double-owl, having earned both her BA and MA in English from FAU. Her research focuses on the politics of representation in speculative fiction, particularly Latino Futurisms and feminist science fiction. Dr. Taylor is co-editor of "The Routledge Handbook to CoFuturisms" with Grace L. Dillon, Isiah Lavender III, and Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay. This 375,000-word scholarly collection is the first comprehensive survey of the field. She is currently working on her monograph "The Future is Decolonial: Defining Latinx Futurisms." Dr. Taylor has published in such journals as "Science Fiction Studies," "The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts," "Paradoxa," "Label Me Latina/o," and "Mythlore." She is an associate editor for "The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts," co-founding editor of the Routledge book series "Studies in Global Genre Fiction," and a juror for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. website: tarynejadetaylor.com

Carla Maria Thomas

Ph.D,. Director and Assistant Professor, Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Carla María Thomas received their BA and MA degrees from Florida State University (2006 and 2008, respectively), and they received their PhD from New York University in 2016. Thomas splits their research between antiracist scholarship in medieval studies and Early Middle English religious verse, especially those pertaining to death and Judgment Day. They have published on the late 12th-century collection of homiletic verse known as the Ormulum and the late 12th-century devotional verse text Poema Morale. Most recently, they published an article in Literature Compass titled “Embodying Antiracist White Latinidad in Medieval Studies” (2021). Their current works-in-progress include an eschatological and manuscript context reading of the 13th-century debate poem The Owl and the Nightingale and purposeful emendations to latest copy (c. 1300) of Poema Morale that suggests a narrowing of audience to religious women. website

William Trapani

Ph.D., Director and Associate Professor, Arts and Humanities
Email: wtrapan1@fau.edu

Bill Trapani's research and teaching are informed by rhetorical theory and criticism and critical/cultural studies. His principal areas of scholarly interest include the rhetoric of visual culture, national identity and citizenship studies, and the theorization of contemporary protest and social activism. His work primarily explores the rhetorical construction and consequence of varying figurations of the American national character. website

Luisa Turbino Torres

Assistant Professor, Center for Women, Gender & Sexuality and Department of Political Science
Email: lturbinotorres@fau.edu

Turbino Torres (she/they) is an Assistant Professor of Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies and Political Science at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). By using interpretivist methodologies, her work broadly explores how power dynamics present in different spaces have effects that go beyond the individuals and feed into systems of oppression. She specializes in resistance and political organizing of minoritized communities around social and cultural practices such as sports and other popular culture spaces, and their efforts to address gender, sexuality, race, and class. Her most recent works focus on political mobilization as a practice of social change seeking to overturn political, social, and economic structures while establishing an emancipatory vision of society.

Joseph Velasquez

Associate Professor of Art, Visual Arts and Art History
Email: jvelasquez@fau.edu

Velasquez is a Chicano artist and the visionary behind Drive By Press, has embarked on a diverse artistic journey shaped by his nomadic upbringing. Growing up amidst 22 different public schools across San Fernando, CA, El Paso, TX, and Austin, TX, This upbringing immersed him in a world of vibrant graphic influences, from the colorful murals and graffiti tags to the intricate tattoos and inky impressions that adorned his surroundings. Joseph's artistic prowess has garnered national and international recognition, with his work featured in published articles and curated exhibitions highlighting Latino artists. His portfolio includes solo showcases on the national and international stage, including a prestigious spot at the 54th La Biennale di Venezia in Venice, Italy. Notably, he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 2017 for his groundbreaking Carnival of INK project, a community-based printmaking initiative in Sheboygan, WI, receiving a grant of $50,000. Joseph’s current work's central theme revolves around exploring his Chicano heritage, with a particular focus on delving into the indigenous experiences of his great-grandfather, Catarino Velasquez, as he traversed the Southwestern United States. His narratives, deeply ingrained within the oral traditions of his family, serve as the inspiration for Joseph’s work, which aims to visually encapsulate and share this rich tapestry of stories with a broader audience. Despite the thrill of life on the road, Joseph's heart remains rooted in academia. Currently serving as an Associate Professor of Art at Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton, Florida.

Kevin M. Wagner

J.D., PhD, Professor of Political Science at FAU
Email: kwagne15@fau.edu

Dr. Wagner received his J.D. from the University of Florida and worked as an attorney and member of the Florida Bar. He left the full-time practice of law and returned to the University of Florida to earn an M.A. and PhD in political science. He is an Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Political Science at FAU. He was awarded the LLS Distinguished Professorship in Current Affairs twice and serves as the Co-Director of the FAU Polling. His research area is technology and politics, both in the United States and abroad.

Eyal Weinberg

Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of History, Florida Atlantic
Email: eweinberg@fau.edu

Weinberg is a historian of modern Latin America, with a focus on Brazil. His research explores histories of health, political violence, and human rights in the twentieth century and particularly the Cold War in Latin America. Weinberg’s current book project explores the contested realms of professional medicine, bioethics, and political repression in military and post-authoritarian Brazil (1964-1988). Some of the project's themes are featured in Weinberg’s article “‘With colleagues like that, who needs enemies?’: Doctors and Repression under Military and Post-Authoritarian Brazil,” published in The Americas. website

Kaila Witkowski

Assistant professor, Department of Public Administration at Florida Atlantic
Email: kwitkowski@fau.edu

Kaila Witkowski is an assistant professor in the Department of Public Administration at Florida Atlantic University with research interests in public administration, public health, and emergency management. Her work focuses on applying visual and community-based research methods, such as PhotoVoice, to capture the lived experiences of different community groups in South Florida, including persons experiencing homelessness, persons living with HIV/AIDS, first responders, and persons using substances. website

Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College

Jacqueline Fewkes

Ph.D., Professor, Honors College Humanities and Social Sciences
Email: jfewkes@fau.edu

Fewkes works with diverse communities around the world as a cultural anthropologist, promoting intercultural understanding as a necessary part of building peaceful societies, and amplifying the local voices of social justice. website

Ashley Kennedy

Ph.D., Associate Professor, Honors College Humanities and Social Sciences
Email: kennedya@fau.edu

Kennedy’s research focuses on applied issues in philosophy of medicine, global justice and biomedical ethics. I am currently writing a book, "Concepts in Clinical Diagnosis," under contract with Oxford University Press, for medical trainees and physicians, as well as co-producing a documentary on the problem of child labor in Myanmar, where I am working with the International Labor Organization and local NGOs. website

Kevin Lanning

Ph.D., Professor, Honors College Math and Science
Email: lanning@fau.edu

Lanning is the former editor of Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy. His scholarship includes papers on democracy, voting, and political psychology. website

William E. O’Brien

Professor of Environmental Studies and Chair of Natural Sciences and
Mathematics | Email: wobrien@fau.edu

William E. O’Brien is Professor of Environmental Studies and Chair of Natural Sciences and
Mathematics in the Wilkes Honors College. He had previously been Chair of Humanities and Social Sciences there. He has two degrees in geography, a ﬁeld that links the social and natural, and he holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Design and Planning from Virginia Tech. An award-winning teacher and advisor, his research explores connections between race and environment, including scenic park spaces. He is the author of "Landscapes of Exclusion: State Parks and Jim Crow in the American South" (University of Massachusetts Press and the Library of American Landscape History, 2016; and 2022 in paperback by LALH). The book received the 2017 John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize from the Foundation for Landscape Studies and the 2017 Leadership in History Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History. The book is also the subject of a short documentary ﬁlm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew_oMWp6acI

He has published additional work in journals such as "Historical Geography," "Geographical Review," "Human Ecology," "Journal of Geography," "Journal of American Culture," and "Ethics, Place and Environment." His current project, in collaboration with Dr. Wairimũ Njambi, investigates the history of Royal Aberdare National Park in colonial Kenya, emphasizing the role that features of its landscape, particularly terrain, vegetation, and wildlife, played in the war between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (known as Mau Mau) and the British military from 1952 to 1956.

Annina Ruest

MFA, Associate Professor of Art
Email: aruest@fau.edu

Ruest (also spelled Rüst) is an artist-technologist and creates electronics and software-based media art. Her works often focus on political issues within tech culture, including gender representation and online privacy. Her work has been reviewed in such publications as Wired and the New York Times Magazine. The Huffington Post called her recent robotics work a "Badass Feminist Robot.” Besides making and exhibiting technology-driven art, she writes scholarly articles that contextualize her own work and the work of others. website

Timothy Steigenga

Ph.D., Professor, Honors College, Humanities and Social Sciences
Email: tsteigen@fau.edu

Steigenga help found the Wilkes Honors College in 1999. He has served as Interim Dean of the Wilkes Honors College, Chair or Social Science and Humanities, and Co-Director of the Kenan Social Engagement Program, and the college's named professor of community engagement. He is the author/editor of six books and numerous other publications on religion and politics in Latin America and issues related to migration and immigrant integration. Dr. Steigenga helped to found El Sol, Jupiter’s Neighborhood Resource Center, was awarded a fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and served as a Fulbright Scholar in Guatemala. website

Mark Tunick

Ph.D., Professor, Honors College, Humanities and Social Sciences
Email: tunick@fau.edu

Tunick applies classic political theories to concrete, contemporary ethical and legal issues, issues involving punishment, privacy, religious freedom and toleration, and the right of self defense. His book Practices and Principles (Princeton University Press) discusses a debate between Kant and Hegel about whether there are universally valid moral principles that dictate what's right regardless of what the consensus is within a particular society, or whether moral judgments are determined by conventions and practices which vary among societies--and applies their work to specific cases involving promises, contracts, and privacy. Other work brings the theories of Locke and Mill to bear on contemporary controversies such as whether the U.S. criminal justice system should provide for a cultural defense, or whether there is a natural right to bear arms. Most recently he addresses issues of causation, privacy, and free speech that are raised in the 'texting suicide' case involving Michelle Carter, and is currently writing about the conflict between the rights of mature minors and parental rights. website