At the post-graduate level, Mellon Faculty Fellowships offer tenure-track appointments at one of the ACM colleges to new Ph.D. or terminal master’s degree graduates whose backgrounds and life experiences will enhance diversity on the ACM campuses and who have recently earned their graduate degree, preferably from a Big Ten Academic Alliance institution or the University of Chicago. There will be 33 faculty fellow appointments in the humanities, humanistic social sciences, or the arts over the nine years of the grant.
Read about the Faculty Fellows
2022 Mellon Faculty Fellows
Beloit College
Allan Farrell
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Ph.D.: Sociology, Rice University, Houston, TX, (2022)
M.A.: Sociology, Rice University, Houston, TX, (2017)
B.A.: Sociology and Political Science, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA, (2014)
Research: Race and Ethnicity, Racial Ambiguity, Racism and Racial Inequality, Social Psychology, Multiracial experiences, Multiracial Identity Development, Mixed Methods Research, Mental and Physical Health disparities
Teaching: Introduction to Sociology, Quantitative and Qualitative Research methods, Multiracial Experiences and Identity, Immigration and Immigrant Experiences, Social Inequalities, Culture and Cultural Representation, Race and Ethnicity, Racism and Racial inequalities in the USA.
Beloit College
Gana Ndiaye
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Ph.D., Sociocultural Anthropology, Boston University
M.A., French Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
M.Sc., Intercultural Mediation, KU Leuven (Belgium)
B.A., English Studies, Mohamed I University (Morocco)
Research: Anthropology of ethics, anthropology of Islam, ꜤAjamī (enriched Arabic script) literary traditions of Muslim Africa, encounters between Islam and African Diaspora Religions in West Africa and Brazil, transnational migrations, race and ethnicity, visual anthropology
Teaching: Introduction to sociocultural anthropology, race and migration, popular culture in West Africa and Brazil, anthropology of Islam
Lawrence University
Marcy Quiason
Assistant Professor of Gender Studies
PhD, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, University of Kansas
MA, Political Science, University of Kansas
Research: Nongovernmental Organizations, Organizational studies, Postcolonial Theory, Neoliberal Globalization
Teaching: Queer theory, Global Feminisms, Asian and Asian-American studies, and Postcolonial Feminist Theories.
Ripon College
Lillian Brown
Assistant Professor of Theater
MFA, Theater, Ohio State University
B.A., Theater, University of Northern Colorado
Research: Devising, Solo Performance, Applied Theatre, Theatre of Social Change, Mindfulness
Teaching: History of Religion in the Americas, Black Church Studies, the African American intellectual tradition, Religion in Sierra Leone, Africana Religions, and Religion and Capitalism in the Atlantic World
St. Olaf College
Emmanuel Cudjoe
Assistant Professor of Dance
Ph.D.: Dance Studies, Boyer School of Music and Dance, Temple University, Philadelphia-PA.
M.A.: Dance Knowledge, Practice, and Heritage. (Choreomundus International Masters Degree- Norwegian University of Science and Technology, University of Clermont Ferrand, University of Szeged, Roehampton University)
M.A.: African Studies. Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.
B.F.A,(Theatre Arts and Dance): School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana.
Research: Afrocentricity/Afrocentric Theory, with a focus on African dance forms/systems as agency of post-colonial theory; Dance as Intangible Cultural Heritage, Neo-traditional dance performance analysis, Dance in Post-Colonial Politics of West Africa, Dance Anthropology, Ethnochoreology, Dance Phenomenology, Dance History, Dance Ethnography.
Teaching: Introduction to African Diasporic Dance, Neo- Traditional West African dance 1 and 2, Introduction to African Studies, Introduction to Dance, Music for Dance, Body Politic, Embodying Pluralism, West African dance Technique, Traditional Singing and Drumming in West-Africa, Anthropology of Movements, African Womanism/ Empowerment.
St. Olaf College
Mariana Reyes
Assistant Professor of Spanish
Ph.D., Spanish, University of Maryland, College Park
M. A. Spanish, University of Texas at El Paso
Research: Contemporary Mexican, Central American and Latinx literatures and cultures. Border and Migration studies. Religious studies. Gender studies. Digital Humanities.
Teaching: First generation students, Spanish for heritage students, community organizing.
2020 Mellon Faculty Fellows
Coe College
*Anthony Kelley
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Ph.D: Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder
M.A.: Philosophy, Northern Illinois University
A.B.: Women’s and Gender Studies, Columbia University
Research: Ethical Theory, with a focus on well-being; Applied Ethics, with a focus on the allocation of scarce medical resources
Teaching: Introduction to Philosophy, Bioethics, Ethical Theory, Philosophy and Race, Philosophy and Gender, and Logic
Coe College
*Patricia Valderrama
Assistant Professor of English
Ph.D: Comparative Literature, Stanford University
B.A.: Comparative Literature, Princeton University
Research: 20th- and 21st-century Latinx and Latin American literatures, environmental humanities, decolonial studies, climate change, animal studies
Teaching: Latinx and environmental literatures
Lake Forest College
Roshni Patel
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Ph.D: Philosophy, Emory University
B.A.: Philosophy, History, University of Texas – Austin
Research: My research engages Indian Buddhist philosophy and contemporary continental philosophy in cross-cultural synthesis. I explore the possibility of an ethics that is not predicated upon a powerful and sovereign will, but rather emerges from our constitutive relation and interdependence. I am also interested in questions about epistemic virtues and modalities that contribute to being a responsive and receptive knower, rather than a knower who inhabits the subject pole of a dualistic configuration.
Teaching: Asian Philosophy, Comparative Philosophy, and Moral Philosophy
St. Olaf College
Timothy Rainey II
Assistant Professor of Religion
Ph.D: Emory University | Department of Religion
M.Div.: Princeton Theological Seminary
B.A.: Morehouse College
Research: Religion, economy, and African repatriation in the early Nineteenth Century
Teaching: History of Religion in the Americas, Black Church Studies, the African American intellectual tradition, Religion in Sierra Leone, Africana Religions, and Religion and Capitalism in the Atlantic World
*No longer at participating campus
2019 Mellon Faculty Fellows
Colorado College
Baran Germen
Assistant Professor of Film and Media StudiesPh.D: Comparative Literature, University of Oregon
M.A.: Comparative Literature, Istanbul Bilgi University
B.A.: American Culture and Literature, University of Baskent
Research: Transmedial queer aesthetics, modern Turkish literature and film, melodrama, affect, queer theory, French critical theory, secularism, and phenomenology
Teaching: Global cinema and comparative media studies cutting across melodrama, queer theory, and Islam and secularism
Cornell College
*Khristin Landry-Montes
Assistant Professor in Art History
Ph.D: Art History, University of Illinois at Chicago
M.A.: Art History, Northern Illinois University
Research: Teaching: art and architecture of ancient Mexico, global contemporary art, and the art of border walls and spaces.
Grinnell College
Nicky Tavares
Assistant Professor in Film and Media Studies
M.F.A.: Film/Video, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
B.A.: Photocommunications, Saint Edward’s University
Research: Sheds light on systemic inequalities through personal storytelling via photography, film, video, animation, sculpture, VR 360, as well as across film genres and presentation formats such as documentary, installation, GIFS, and moving image projections for live performance.
Teaching: Introduction to the Moving Image and Experimental Filmmaking
Knox College
*Yannick Marshall
Assistant Professor of Africana Studies
Ph.D.: African Studies, Columbia University
M. Phil.: African Studies, Columbia University
B.A.: Political Science and Caribbean Studies, University of Toronto
Research: Police power, race, colonial sexualities, anti-blackness and urbanity especially in East Africa and the United States
Teaching: Police Power; Anti-blackness; Racialized Violence; Colonial Masculinities; East African Studies; African American Studies; Race, Space, Urbanity and the Built Environment.
Lawrence University
*Vanessa D. Plumly
Assistant Professor of German
Ph.D: German Studies, University of Cincinnati
M.A.: German Studies, University of Kentucky
B.A.: German & History, Bethany College
Research: Afro-German culture, film, and gender and sexuality studies across Ethnic Studies, Film Studies, and Gender Studies
Teaching: Black German Studies, Jewish German Studies, Queer Studies, postwar and post-Wall Germany, film and visual culture, Fin-de-siècle Vienna
Macalester College
Michael Prior
Assistant Professor of English
M.F.A.: Poetry, Cornell University
M.A.: English Literature, University of Toronto
B.A.: English Literature, University of British Columbia
Research: Poetry, politics of poetic form, Asian American poetries, creative nonfiction, intergenerational memory, literary citizenship
Teaching: Introduction to Creative Writing and Crafts of Writing: Poetry
*No longer at participating campus
2018 Mellon Faculty Fellows
Beloit College
Sonya Maria Johnson
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
Ph.D. Dual Major in Socio-Cultural Anthropology and African American & African Studies, Michigan State University
B.A. Anthropology and Ethnic Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder
Research: Cuban African descendants’ engagement of ancestral spirits from Cuba’s colonial past to maintain their “African” identity, integrating the significance of contemporary ritual realities into theoretical discourses about the “Black Atlantic”
Teaching: Religions of the Black Atlantic: The Caribbean and Latin America; Religious Thought in the Black Atlantic: Cuba; Ritual and Culture in the African Diaspora; Religion and Reality; and The Anthropology of Religion
Carleton College
Candace Moore
Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Cinema and Media Studies
Ph.D. Cinema and Media Studies, UCLA
M.F.A. Creative Writing, San Francisco State University
B.A. Literature, University of California – Santa Cruz
Research: Feminist and Queer Media Studies, American Television History, LGBTQ Studies, Minoritarian Media Industries and Production Cultures, Sex in the Media, and Digital Television and Convergence Culture
Teaching: Courses include Introduction to LGBT/Queer Studies, Feminist and Queer Theory, and Race Gender and Sexuality in Popular Culture
Coe College
Laissa M. Rodríguez Moreno
Assistant Professor of Spanish
Ph.D. Spanish Literature and M.A., University of Wisconsin – Madison
B.A. Literary Studies, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Research: Combines topics related to 20th – 21st c. Latin American political violence with scholarly interests in Latin American history, theater and performance, political philosophy, cultural and visual studies ,and Illustrated Books
Teaching: Spanish Language, Latin American history, and advanced literature classes on Hispanic graphic novels, performance and politics, theater and literature
*Alexander Zambrano
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Ph.D. Philosophy, University of Colorado – Boulder
B.A. Philosophy, Loyola Marymount University
Research: Biomedical Ethics, with focus on the allocation of scarce medical resources and bio-enhancement technologies and their implications for distributive justice
Teaching: Applied ethics (including bioethics and environmental ethics), the history of philosophy (ancient and early modern), philosophy of race, philosophy of religion, and normative ethics
Knox College
Roya Biggie
Assistant Professor of English
Ph.D. English, CUNY Graduate Center
M.A. English, Georgetown University
B.A. English, St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Research: Shakespeare, early modern drama, early modern medical texts and botanicals, ecocriticism, and affect theory
Teaching: Early Modern Ecologies, Early Modern Cross-Cultural Encounters, Shakespeare, and survey courses in medieval and early modern literature
Lake Forest College
*Vivian Ta
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Ph.D. Experimental Psychology and M.S., University of Texas at Arlington
B.A. Experimental Psychology, University of Texas at Arlington
Research: Using computational linguistics techniques to investigate the influence of language on interpersonal dynamics, the impact of personality and individual differences on interpersonal relationships, and the role of technology and computer-mediated communication on psychological processes
Teaching: Research Methods and Statistics I and II, Psychology of Language
Luther College
*Kelly Sharp
Assistant Professor of African Studies and History
Ph.D. History and M.A., University of California – Davis
B.A. History, Willamette University
Research: Material culture, food, the ante-bellum South, race and labor, and business history
Teaching: Intro to African American History, Black Student Activism in Higher Education
St. Olaf College
Jessica Benson
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Ph.D. Psychology and M.A., Rutgers University – Newark
B.A. Psychology, University of California – Davis
Research: Stereotyping and discrimination, identity, resilience, and academic achievement
Teaching: Issues in Diversity, Social Psychology, and Research Methods in Psychology
*Stephanie Montgomery
Assistant Professor of History and Asian Studies
Ph.D. History and M.A., University of California – Santa Cruz
B.A. University of Nevada – Reno
Research: Modern China, history of gender, sexuality, and the body; women’s history; the history of criminality and penology; and the history of science, medicine, technology, and drugs
Teaching: Courses include the Making of Modern East Asia, Engendering Modern East Asia, China Past and Present
*No longer at participating campus
2017 Mellon Faculty Fellows
Carleton College
*Charisse Burden-Stelly
Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Political Science
Ph.D. in African Diaspora Studies and M.A., University of California, Berkeley
B.A., Barrett Honor College at Arizona State University
Research: Africana studies, critical theory, political theory, and political economy with a substantive focus on antiradicalism, anti-blackness, and state-sanctioned violence; globalization and economic development; and epistemologies of Black studies.
Teaching: Courses include Black Revolution on Campus and Black Radical Political Thought, 1919-1969.
Cornell College
T. Christopher Hoklotubbe
Assistant Professor of Religion
Th.D. in New Testament and Early Christianity and M.Div., Harvard University
B.A., University of California, Los Angeles
Research: Early Christianity, Greco-Roman archaeology, ancient philosophy, and critical theory.
Teaching: Courses in New Testament, History of Christianity, and Comparative Religion, with attention given to the intersection of religion, politics, ethics, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality.
Lawrence University
Jesus G. Smith
Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies
Ph.D. in Sociology, Texas A&M University
M.A. and B.A., University of Texas at El Paso
Research: Race and ethnic relations, racism, gender, sexuality, computer and information technology, and health.
Teaching: Courses include Race and Ethnicity in the U.S., U.S./Mexican Border Sociology, and Black and Latin@ Sociology.
*No longer at participating campus
2016 Mellon Faculty Fellows
Beloit College
*M. Shadee Malaklou
Assistant Professor of Critical Identities Studies
Ph.D. in Culture and Theory and M.A., University of California at Irvine
B.A., Duke University
Research: Reads Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks (1952) as a gender studies text to chart a contrapuntal relationship between sexuality, antiblackness, and social and political constructions of time. She intervenes in popular visual media like reality television to interrogate how time moves and for whom to catalog desire and identification as taxonomy and type.
Teaching: Courses include Sex and Power; Black Lives Matter.
Colorado College
*Prentiss A. Dantzler II
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Ph.D. in Public Affairs, Concentration in Community Development, Rutgers University
M.P.A., West Chester University of Pennsylvania, and B.S., Pennsylvania State University
Research: Focuses on the impact of changes in housing policies upon marginalized populations, especially those in urban areas.
Teaching: Courses around systems of inequality based on identities of race, class, gender and sexuality and aspects of community and neighborhood development for poor, urban areas.
Grinnell College
Stephanie Jones
Assistant Professor of Education
Ph.D. in Language and Literacy Education, University of Georgia
M.Ed. and B.A., University of Pittsburgh
Research: Focuses on the ways in which Black girls and women engage with literacies in and outside of the classroom, and specifically how those literacies can help shape culturally relevant and engaging pedagogy and curriculum for the secondary classroom.
Teaching: Courses include Principles of Education in a Pluralistic Society and a special topics course on Teaching Risky Texts in the Classroom.
Lake Forest College
*Jennifer Jhun
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Ph.D. in Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh
B.A., Northwestern University
Research: Areas of specialization are philosophy of science (especially economics and economic models) and epistemology.
Teaching: Courses on the philosophy of science, logic and argument, ethics, and social justice, including Logic and Styles of Arguments, Philosophy of Science, and Social Justice vs. Freedom?
Lawrence University
Thelma Jiménez-Anglada
Assistant Professor of Spanish
Ph.D. in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Studies, University of Chicago
M.A. and B.A., University of Puerto Rico
Research: Combines scholarly interests in violence, human rights and migration, with current research focused on trafficking, specifically of narcotics and humans in Latin America and US Latino communities.
Teaching: Taught a course on Latino-Latina literature during the fall term.
Macalester College
*Crystal Moten
Assistant Professor of African American History
Ph.D. in History and M.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison
B.A., Washington University
Research: Focuses on the intersection of race, class, and gender and specifically she writes about black women’s economic activism in civil rights era Milwaukee.
Teaching: Courses on modern African American history with particular emphasis on civil rights, economic justice, women and gender, intellectual history, and public history.
* No longer at participating campus
The Mellon Faculty Fellowships aim to enhance the diversity of new faculty who teach at liberal arts colleges, while also enhancing the careers of the fellows and teaching programs of the colleges.
The fellowships provide:
- Funding for two years of each fellow’s salary and benefits;
- The opportunity for these new scholars to teach half-time for at least the first year (and either a second year of half-time teaching or an extended fourth-year leave, at the discretion of the college), while also advancing their research agenda and becoming familiar with teaching and researching in a liberal arts college;
- Mentoring by a professor at the ACM college, targeted professional development activities, and opportunities to network with other faculty and undergraduate fellows at ACM member colleges, such as at annual program-sponsored summits.
For More Information
If you have questions about the Mellon Faculty Fellowships, contact ACM Senior Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Allen Linton II (312.561.5921).
The Mellon Faculty Fellowships and the Undergraduate and Faculty Fellows Program for a Diverse Professoriate are supported by a generous grant from the The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
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