WGSS Program Faculty and Affiliates

Director

Program Faculty

Please see below for Faculty Affiliates.

Tanja Aho Senior Professorial Lecturer CAS | Critical RGC Studies

Dr Tanja Aho is a Senior Professorial Lecturer and the Director of American Studies and the Disability, Health, and Bodies (DHB) Certificate. Dr Aho teaches the core classes of the DHB Certificate as

  aho@american.edu

Irene Calis Director, Arab World Studies CAS | Critical RGC Studies

Irene Calis is a decolonial scholar, educator, and organizer. Her research focuses on emancipatory politics from the perspective of those living their struggle, and on forging decolonial futures. Her

  calis@american.edu

Tyler Christensen Professorial Lecturer CAS | Critical RGC Studies

K. Tyler Christensen holds a PhD in American Literature & Culture from the English Department at The George Washington University. The expanse of his doctoral work is concerned with storytelling that

  christen@american.edu

Mali Collins Assistant Professor CAS | Critical RGC Studies

Mali Collins’ research areas include Black motherhood studies, Black archival studies, 20th and 21st century literature and art, medical humanities, digital technology, and reproductive health and jus

  malic@american.edu

Robert Connelly Adjunct Senior Professorial Lecturer CAS | Critical RGC Studies

Bob Connelly is a senior adjunct professorial lecturer of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Bob received his M.F.A. in Film and Electronic Media at American University, and began teaching LGBTQ f

  robertc@american.edu

Mary Ellen Curtin Associate Professor CAS | Critical RGC Studies

Mary Ellen Curtin has a Ph.d from Duke University and is a historian of modern African American and women's social and political history. Her first book Black Prisoners and Their World documented the

  curtin@american.edu

  (202) 885-6168

Eileen Findlay Professor and Department Chair, Critical RGC Studies CAS | Critical RGC Studies

Eileen Findlay graduated from Oberlin College and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she held a Jacob Javits fellowship. Both her books, 'We Are Left Without a Father Here': Masculinity, Dome

  efindla@american.edu

  (202) 885-6264

Christina Riley Professorial Lecturer CAS | Critical RGC Studies

Christina Riley’s research focuses on the cultural dynamics of group collectivity and their ensuing on/offline sociopolitical relays. Christina is particularly invested in digital group coherence and

  criley@american.edu

Sybil Roberts Director of African American and African Diaspora Studies CAS | Performing Arts

Sybil R. Williams has spent the past twelve years cultivating her craft as a playwright and dramaturg. Her work has been professionally produced by Chicago’s ETA Creative Arts Theatre; New York’s Nati

  sroberts@american.edu

  (202) 885-3482

Elizabeth Rule Assistant Professor CAS | Critical RGC Studies

Dr. Elizabeth Rule (enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation) is an Assistant Professor of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies at American University in Washington, DC. Rule’s research on issue

  rule@american.edu

Elke Stockreiter Associate Professor CAS | History

Elke Stockreiter is a historian of modern Africa. Her research and teaching interests include the histories of colonialism, gender, race, and slavery in Africa and the Indian Ocean World. Trained as a

  estockre@american.edu

  (202) 885-6746

Faculty Affiliates

Juliet Bellow Associate Professor CAS | Art

Juliet Bellow’s research centers on visual artists' experimentations with intermediality in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Her book Modernism on Stage: The Ballets Russes and the P

  bellow@american.edu

  (202) 885-6477

Tim Doud Professor CAS | Art

Tim Doud’s paintings and drawings address two seemingly distinct bodies of work, one figurative and one abstract. These bodies of works serve as a backdrop to broader discussions around constructed id

  tdoud@american.edu

  (202) 885-3992

Ellen Feder Professor CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Ellen K. Feder is the William Fraser McDowell Professor of Philosophy and Social Policy. She works at the intersection of contemporary continental philosophy and feminist and critical race theory, par

  efeder@american.edu

  (202) 885-2931

Dustin Friedman Associate Professor CAS | Literature

Dustin Friedman's fields of research and teaching are Victorian and modern literature, aestheticism and decadence, queer theory, the history and theory of aesthetics, and global nineteenth-century wri

  dustinfr@american.edu

  (202) 885-2963

Naima Hachad Associate Professor CAS | World Languages and Cultures

Dr. Hachad’s research focuses on issues of gender and sexuality, autobiography and testimony, and the representation and memorialization of violence in cultural productions of the Maghreb and the Cari

  hachad@american.edu

  (202) 885-1458

Kate Haulman Associate Professor CAS | History

Kate Haulman researches and teaches the history of early North America and US women's and gender history. She is the author of The Politics of Fashion in Eighteenth-Century America (University of Nort

  haulman@american.edu

  (202) 885-2417

Leena Jayaswal Professor SOC | Film & Media Arts

Leena Jayaswal is a documentary filmmaker, award-winning photographer and Professor in the School of Communication at American University in Washington DC, where she is the director of the new BA in P

  ljayasw@american.edu

  (202) 885-2662

Juliana Martinez Associate Professor CAS | World Languages and Cultures

Professor Martínez focuses on the intersection of violence and body politics in Latin America. Her two main areas of research are: representation of historical violence recent cultural production; and

  jmartinez@american.edu

  (202) 885-2586

Amy Oliver Associate Professor Emerita

Professor Oliver's teaching and research on Latin America explore philosophical topics such as marginality, feminism, nepantlismo, and transfronterismo. She works on the Hispanic ess

  aoliver@american.edu

  (202) 885-2140

Jane Palmer Associate Professor SPA | Justice, Law & Criminology

Dr. Jane Palmer is an Associate Professor with a primary focus on community-based participatory research, help-seeking, community-based responses to harm, and ending gender-based violence.

Sh

  jpalmer@american.edu

  (202) 885-3118

Ying-Chen Peng Associate Professor CAS | Art

Dr. Peng specializes in late imperial and modern Chinese art history with a focus on gender issues and globalization of material culture. Before joining the American University she worked at the Natio

  peng@american.edu

  (202) 885-6475

Diane Singerman Associate Prof Emeritus

Dr. Singerman is an Associate Professor and comparativist whose research interests focus on political change from below, particularly in the Middle East, and more specifically Egypt. Her work examines

  (202) 885-2362

Lauren Weis Sr Professorial Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Philosophy CAS | Philosophy/Religion

I earned a PhD in Philosophy from Boston College specializing in Continental and History of Philosophy with a focus on ethics, metaphysics and epistemology, gender studies and feminist theory. Since j

  weis@american.edu

  (202) 885-2926

Sherri Williams Assistant Professor SOC | Journalism

Dr. Sherri Williams is a race and representation researcher who teaches about how media images are connected to and uphold oppression and inequality. Williams, who was a journalist for a decade before

  sherriw@american.edu

Gay Young Prof Emerita

(Gloria A.) Gay Young has a longstanding focus on gender and development (GAD) which has led her to study a range of issues, including the nature and consequences of women’s labor force participation

  gyoung@american.edu

Perry Zurn Provost Associate Professor CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Perry Zurn is Provost Associate Professor of Philosophy at American University, and affiliate faculty in the Department of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies, the Honors Program, and the Antir

  pzurn@american.edu

  (202) 885-2964