Full Directory
The Institute invites several visiting speakers each year and sponsors conferences that are linked to the research and teaching interests of our faculty. The Institute now offers faculty fellowships and a graduate certificate in addition to research grants to faculty associates to support research in African and African-American Studies.
A

Adams, Cary
- Associate Professor of Art, Environment, and Emerging Practices
- cary.adams@rochester.edu | (585) 273-5994
- Sage Art Center
Interests: Environmental Art and Humanities; New Media; Social Practice
B

Bakhmetyeva, Tanya
- Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies
- Associate Academic Director, Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies
- tatyana.bakhmetyeva@rochester.edu | (585) 273-5187
- 535 Lattimore
Interests: Russian and Eastern European History, History of Catholicism, Gender

Ball, Molly
- History Lecturer
- mollycball@rochester.edu | (585) 276-7184
- 449 Rush Rhees Library
Interests: Brazilian History; Latin American History; Economic History; Immigration History
Bangoura, Kerfala "Fana"
- Director, UR West African Drumming Ensemble
- kerfala.bangoura@gmail.com
- 1-337 Dewey Hall

Beaumont, Daniel E.
- Professor Emeritus of Religion and Classics
Interests: Arabic Languages and Literature


Bridges, William H., IV
- Arthur Satz Professor of the Humanities
Associate Professor of Modern Languages and Cultures
- wbridges@ur.rochester.edu | (585) 275-2235
- 407 Lattimore Hall
Interests: Modern Japanese language, literature, and culture; Race and ethnicity in modern Japanese literature and culture; Contemporary Japanese popular culture, especially anime; 20th-century African American literature; Literary theory, especially African American literary theory and the theory of the novel; Translation (theory and practice); Rhetoric and composition; Digital Humanities
C

Carter, Anthony T.
- Professor Emeritus
- anthony.carter@rochester.edu | (585) 275-8614
Interests: rural politics; kinship and marriage; households and personhood
D

Doughty, Kristin
- Associate Professor of Anthropology
- kristin.doughty@rochester.edu | (585) 275-5155
- 437 Lattimore Hall
Interests: political and legal anthropology; politics of reconciliation; transitional justice; violence and conflict; memory; politics of energy; Africa; Rwanda

Downey, Jack
- John Henry Newman Professor of Roman Catholic Studies
Professor of Religion and Classics
- j.downey@rochester.edu | (585) 275-5224
- 436 Rush Rhees Library
Interests: Contemporary Justice Movements; Liberation Theologies; North American religious history; Christianity; Buddhism: and Contemplative Traditions

Dubler, Joshua
- Associate Professor of Religion
- Director, Rochester Education Justice Initiative
- joshua.dubler@rochester.edu | (585) 275-4756
- 428A Rush Rhees Library
Interests: Religion in America
E

Ealey, Jordan
they/she
- Assistant Professor, Department of Black Studies
Interests: Black feminist theory and praxis; Black theatre and performance; Nineteenth and twentieth century Black intellectual history, sound studies, popular music, and Black girlhood studies

F

Finnigan, Kara
- Professor of Educational Leadership
- kfinnigan@warner.rochester.edu | (585) 275-9942
- 414 LeChase Hall

Fordham, Signithia
- Professor, University of Rochester
- s.fordham@rochester.edu | (585) 273-5773
- 214 Lattimore Hall
Interests: Research
G

Gamm, Gerald
- Professor of History
Professor of Political Science
- gerald.gamm@rochester.edu | (585) 275-8573
- 319 Harkness Hall
Interests: Political Science; American History

Grimm, Nadine
she/her/hers
- Assistant Professor of Linguistics
- Director of Language Documentation and Description Program
Co-Director of Grammar and Variation Lab
On leave for the 23-24 academic year
- nadine.grimm@rochester.edu
- 509 Lattimore Hall
Interests: Grammatical tone; Language documentation and description; Typology; African languages, particularly Bantu
H

Hunter, Cory
- Assistant Professor of Music, Arthur Satz Department of Music, School of Arts & Sciences
Assistant Professor of Musicology, Eastman School of Music
- cory.hunter@rochester.edu
- 1-341 Dewey Hall
I

Inikori, Joseph E.
- Professor Emeritus of History
- inik@mail.rochester.edu | (585) 275-9020
- 437 Rush Rhees Library
Interests: Atlantic World Economic History
K

Kemedjio, Cilas
- Professor of French
- cilaskemedjio@rochester.edu | (585) 275--425
- 406 Lattimore
Interests: Francophone Caribbean and African literary and cultural studies; postcolonial theory; transnational black studies; humanitarianism

Kyker, Jennifer
- Associate Professor of Music, Arthur Satz Department of Music, School of Arts & Sciences
Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology, Eastman School of Music
- jennifer.kyker@rochester.edu | (585) 275-0239
- 1-308 Dewey Hall
M

Mandala, Elias C.
- Professor of History
- elias.mandala@rochester.edu | (585) 275-2058
- 439 Rush Rhees Library
Interests: Southern Africa since the 19th Century; Social History

Mariner, Kathryn
- Associate Professor of Anthropology
- kathryn.mariner@rochester.edu | (585) 275-8734
- 444 Lattimore Hall
Interests: intimacy and social inequality; politics of race, class and gender; temporality; kinship and adoption; care; social work; space and place; visual anthropology; United States

Marshall, Cona
- Assistant Professor of American Religions
- cona.marshall@rochester.edu | Office (585) 275-9368
- 420 Rush Rhees Library
Interests: Womanism, Black feminism, the Black church (as an institution), and African American public religious rhetoric

McCune, Jeffrey Q., Jr.
- Frederick Douglass Professor
Associate Professor of English
Associate Professor of Black Studies - Chair, Faculty Programs and Departmental Initiatives, Department of Black Studies
- jmccune@ur.rochester.edu | (585) 273-5346
- 311B Morey Hall

McCune, Jeffrey Q., Jr.
- Chair of Faculty Programs and Departmental Initiatives
- jmccune@ur.rochester.edu | (585) 273-5346
- 311B Morey Hall

McHarris, Philip V.
he/him/his
- Assistant Professor, Department of Black Studies
Interests: Racial inequality, housing, and policing

Michael, John
- John Hall Deane Professor of Rhetoric and Poetry
Professor of English
Professor of Visual and Cultural Studies - Director, American Studies
Interim Chair, Department of Black Studies
- john.michael@rochester.edu | (585) 275-9259
- 405 Morey Hall
Interests: American literature; critical theory; cultural studies


Moon, Alexander
- Lecturer, Department of Political Science
- amoon4@ur.rochester.edu | (585) 275-4291
- 330 Harkness Hall
N

Nadir, Leila Christine
- Associate Professor of Environmental Humanities
- Director, Environmental Humanities Program
Interests: Anthropocene; Apocalypse; Environmental humanities; Memoir and creative nonfiction; Social practice art; Food studies; Theories of modernity/modernism; Cultural histories of colonialism and extractive capitalism; Immigration studies; Cold War geopolitics, especially related to Afghanistan; Politics of Race and Ethnicity; American Literature
O

Omelsky, Matthew
- Assistant Professor of English
- matthew.omelsky@rochester.edu
- 417 Morey Hall
Interests: Global black cultural studies; African and Caribbean literatures; film and digital media; time and phenomenology; speculative fiction; critical theory.
P

Papaioannou, Julie
- Professor of Instruction in French
- Language Pedagogy Coordinator, French
Study Abroad Advisor, French
- julie.papaioannou@rochester.edu | (585) 275-4251
- 427 Lattimore Hall
Interests: French language and culture; French and Francophone literature and film (twentieth and twenty-first centuries); French literary translation; French criticism, literary and postcolonial theory
R

Rubel, Nora
- Jane and Alan Batkin Professor in Jewish Studies
Associate Professor of Religion and Classics - Chair, Department of Religion and Classics
- nora.rubel@rochester.edu | (585) 275-7215
- 438 Rush Rhees Library
Interests: American Religion; Race and Ethnicity; Religion and Foodways

S

Sierra Silva, Pablo M.
- Associate Professor of History
- pablo.sierra@rochester.edu | (585) 275-8354
- 461 Rush Rhees Library
Interests: African Diaspora, Latin American and Atlantic History
T


Tucker, Jeffrey Allen
- Associate Professor of English
- Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of English
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Black Studies
- jeffrey.tucker@rochester.edu | (585) 275-2064
- 418 Morey Hall
Interests: African-American literature; 20th-century American literature; science fiction

Tucker, Jeffrey Allen
- Director of Undergraduate Studies
- jeffrey.tucker@rochester.edu | (585) 275-2064
- 418 Morey Hall
W

West, Glenn A.
- Director of Mbira Ensemble
ECMS Collegiate Instructor in Mbira
- gwest@esm.rochester.edu
- Department of Musicology, Eastman School of Music

Willis, Sharon
- Fanny Knapp Allen Professor of Fine Arts
Professor of Art and Art History
Professor of Visual and Cultural Studies
- sharon.willis@rochester.edu | (585) 275-5757
- 517 Morey Hall
Interests: Film history and theory; visual and cultural studies; women's studies and feminist theory; comparative literature and critical theory; French cinema; 19th and 20th century French literature

Wolkoff, Michael
- Professor of Economics - part-time
- michael.wolkoff@rochester.edu | (585) 275-5279
- 234 Harkness Hall
Interests: Public Policy; Economics