Anastasia C. Curwood: Dr. Curwood, Professor of History and Director of the Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies, joined the UK Department of History and African American & Africana Studies in 2014. Her work has been recognized with fellowships from the Ford Foundation, The Institute for Citizens & Scholars, and the James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference at Emory University. She is the author of Stormy Weather: Middle-Class African American Marriages between the Two World Wars (2010). Her most recent book is Shirley Chisholm: Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics (2023).

Vanessa M. Holden: Associate Professor – Department of History; Director – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Gender; Slavery; Race; Resistance; Black Women; Sexuality

Brenna E. Pye: Assistant Director for Programs and Engagement for the Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies. Brenna is a Public Historian and project developer whose research interests include 20th century African American women’s history and the history of Black Lexington. As an independent scholar, Brenna has produced work for the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation and the Lexington Public Library.

Tiffany D. Atkins: Assistant Professor – J. David Rosenberg College of Law; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Race; Equity; Human Rights

Joseph Benitez: Assistant Professor – Martin School of Public Policy and Administration; Faculty Affiliate – American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Health Economics; Medicaid Policy; Medicaid Program Design

Devyn Spence Benson: Associate Professor – Department of History; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Latin American and Caribbean History, esp. Cuba (19th/20th century); Africana Studies; Afro-Latinx Studies; Transnational Black Feminisms; Afro-Latin America

Nikki Brown: Associate Professor – Department of History; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: African American History; African American women; Film and Visual Studies; Photography

Joseph Clark: Assistant Professor – Department of History; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Early Modern Atlantic World; Slavery and African Diaspora; Latin America and the Caribbean; Environmental History

Lisa Cliggett: Professor – Department of Anthropology; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Political Ecology; Sustainability and Environmental Change; Household Political Economy; Kinship-Family and Social Organization; Sub-Saharan Africa, Zambia, Gwembe Tonga Research Project; Qualitative Methods; Digital Data Management; Gender, Aging, and Life Course; Livelihoods; Migration and New Land Settlement; Political Economy

Pasama Cole-Kweli: PhD Student – Cultural Anthropology, Department of Anthropology; Student Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Thais Council: Assistant Professor – College of Education; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Black Education; Black Reparatory Literacies; Community-Engaged/Participatory Action Research; Black Intellectual Tradition

Steve Davis: Associate Professor – Department of History; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: South African History; Microhistory; Public History; African History; Digital Humanities; Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning; Human Rights; Data Visualization; Virtual and Augmented Reality; New Military History

Brandon M. Erby: Assistant Professor – Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies; Faculty Affiliate – African American & African Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: African American Rhetoric; Rhetorical History; Literacy Studies; Rhetorical Education; Prison Studies; Political Rhetoric

Kamahra Ewing: Assistant Professor – Department of English; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: African Diaspora; Film and Media Studies; Contemporary Africa and Post-colonial and Decolonial Theories; Global South Studies; Brazil and Latin America; Gender and Ethnic Identity; Ethnography; African, African American, and Caribbean Literature and Culture; Film; Multicultural American Literature

Crystal Felima: Assistant Professor – Department of Anthropology; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Disasters and Crises; Black Ecologies; Emergency Management and Response; Mapping and GIS; Black Feminist Theory; Narrative Research; Embodiment and Exposure; Haiti, Caribbean, Small Islands, West Africa; Climate Change

Seth Garcia: MA Student – Department of History; Student Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Jeremy Gillett: Assistant Professor – Department of Theater and Dance, College of Fine Arts; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Playwriting; Acting

Le Datta Grimes: Ph.D., Independent Scholar, Co-Principal Investigator: CESU Special History Study-African Americans at Mammoth Cave. Research Interests: Black Communities and Education in the Early 19th and 20th centuries, Rosenwald Schools

Gregory Hall: Associate Professor – Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce; Faulty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: International Relations; International Security; Foreign Policy; Global South Affairs; International Political Economy; Eurasian Affairs; Research Methodology

Aria Halliday: Associate Professor – Department of Gender and Women’s Studies; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Black Feminist Theory; Black Girlhood Studies; Black Visual Culture; 20th and 21st Century Cultural Studies

Regina Hamilton-Townsend: Assistant Professor – Department of English; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: African American Literature; African, African American, and Caribbean Literature and Culture; 20th Century Women’s Narrative; Gender and Race; Queer Black Studies

Whitney Hanley: Assistant Professor – College of Education; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Black girls with dis/abilities

Kayla Heard: PhD Student – Department of History; Student Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Frances Henderson: Associate Professor – Department of Gender and Women’s Studies; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Black Feminism; Women and Social Movements; Comparative Politics; Women and Feminisms in Southern Africa

DaMaris B. Hill: Professor – Department of English; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Environmental Studies; Gender and Women’s Studies; Digital Studies; Technology; 20th and 21st Century American Literature and Culture; African, African American, and Caribbean Literature and Culture; Creative Writing; Women’s Literature and Gender Studies; Literary Theory; Race Theory

D'lorah L Hughes: Professor and Director of Clinics and Externships – J. Rosenberg College of Law; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Experiential/Clinical Education; Criminal Law; Juvenile Justice

Ada Johnson-Kanu: Assistant Professor – Department of Political Science; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Comparative Politics; Political Economy; African Politics; Economic History

Hilary Jones: Associate Professor – Department of History; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: African History; African Diaspora; Atlantic History; French Empire; Women; Gender and Sexuality

Reinette Jones: Professor and Special Collections Librarian – M.I. King Library; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: African American History; Book and Library History; Gender and Women’s Studies; History of African American Librarians and Librarianship in Kentucky; African American women musicians; Lesbian Studies

Peter Kalliney: Professor – Department of English; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: 20th and 21st Century British Literature and Culture; African American and Caribbean Literature and Culture; Postcolonial and Global Literature

Jap-Nanak Kaur Makkar: Assistant Professor – Department of English; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Postcolonial and Global Literature; Method and Interpretation; Aesthetics and Politics; Histories of Colonialism and Capitalism

Bertin M. Louis Jr.: Associate Professor – Department of Anthropology; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: African Studies; Cultural Anthropology; Race and Racism; African Diaspora; Religion; Human Rights; Statelessness; Migration; Haiti; Haitian Studies; Haitian Protestantism; Antiracist Movements; The Bahamas; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Anti-Haitianism

Marta N. Mack: Lecturer – College of Education; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Anti-Black Sexism in Sport; Black Performance; Black Women in Sport

Christopher K. Marshburn: Assistant Professor – Department of Psychology; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Racism; Social Support and Responsiveness; Discrimination; Prejudice and Stereotypes

Priscilla McCutcheon: Associate Professor – Department of Geography; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Alternative Food Movements; Sustainable Agriculture; Black Geographies; Race and Racism; Spirituality and Religion

Shauna M. Morgan: Associate Professor – Department of English; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Creative Writing; African American Literature and Culture; Postcolonial and Global Anglophone Literature; Women’s Literature and Gender Studies; Literary Theory; African Literature and Film

Francis Musoni: Associate Professor – Department of History; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Modern African History; Migration; Refugees; Border Studies; Internal Economies

Chaquenta Neal: Proposal Development Officer – UK Research; Staff Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Community Leadership Development; Community Economic Development

Jessica Nwafor: PhD Student – Cultural Anthropology, Department of Anthropology; Student Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Lydia Pelot-Hobbs: Assistant Professor – Department of Geography; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: The Carceral State; Racial Capitalism; Social Movements and Grassroots Organizing; Prison Abolition; Black Geographies; Feminist and Queer Politics; Louisiana; Critical Urban Studies

Veronica Primm: MA Student – Department of History; Student Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Karen Rignall: Assistant Professor - Community and Leadership Development, Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment; Faculty Affiliate - African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Agri-Food systems in the Middle East and North Africa; Rural Livelihoods and Economic Development; Anthropology of Rural Life; Land Tenure and Land Rights Movements; Labor Migration

Ariane Ribeiro Santana: PhD student – Department of History; Student Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Gerónimo Sarmiento Cruz: Assistant Professor – Department of English; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Minority Literature; Poetry & Politics; Contemporary Poetry; Hemispheric Literature; Native American and Indigenous Studies; Marxism; Twentieth and 21st Century American Literature and Culture

Richard H. Schein: Professor – Department of Geography; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research interests: Cultural and Historical Geography, U.S. Urban Landscapes, Land and Property, Race, Racialization, and Racism, Methodology (Archives, Landscape as Method)

Elena Sesma: Assistant Professor – Department of Anthropology; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Historical Archeology; Cultural Heritage; Collective Memory; Archaeological Ethnography; Public and Community Archaeology; African Diaspora; The Bahamas; Slavery and Emancipation

Nisrine Slitine El Mghari: Assistant Professor – Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Maghrebi Literature and Culture; Colonial and Post-Colonial Studies; Literature and Culture of Muslim Spain; Urban Space; Cultural Memory Studies; Gender Studies; Feminist Geography; Film and Visual Culture

Gerald L. Smith: Professor – Department of History; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: African American History; Race and Sports; Black Freedom Struggle; African American Education; Kentucky African American History

Melissa N. Stein: Associate Professor – Department of Gender and Women’s Studies; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Critical Race Studies; Gender Studies; Feminist Science Studies; The Body; Racial Thought; Sexuality and Queer History; U.S. Cultural and Intellectual History; African America History; Women’s and Gender History; History of Science and Medicine

Amy Murrell Taylor: Professor – Department of History; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: 19th Century U.S. South; Civil War and Reconstruction; Slavery and Emancipation; Race and Gender; Public History

DeBraun Thomas: Music Host – WUKY; Staff Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Brittany Thompson: PhD Student – Department of Anthropology; Student Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies

Shemeka Thorpe: Assistant Professor – College of Education; Faulty Affiliate – African American & African Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Sexual Health, Human Sexuality, Health Education

Kenneth M. Tyler: Associate Dean and Professor – College of Education; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Diversity in Education; Motivation; Educational Psychology

Daniel Vivian: Associate Professor – Department of Historic Preservation, College of Design; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: 19th and 20th Century U.S. History; Public History; Historical Memory; Historic Preservation

Frank X Walker: Professor – Department of English; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Poetry and Poetics; Fiction; African American Cinema; Affrilachia; Diversity in Comics and Graphic Novels; Playwriting and Black Theater; Creative Writing

Peter Wang: Assistant Professor – School of Art and Visual Studies, College of Fine Arts; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: American Art and Visual Culture; History of Photography; Museum Studies; Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Contemporary Art

Keith J. Watts: Assistant Professor – College of Social Work; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Black LGBTQ+; Mental Health; Well-being; Community; Belongingness; Identity and Intersectionality

JWells: Assistant Professor – Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Literacy Studies; Maternal Incarceration; Cultural Rhetorics; Women’s Rhetorics; Feminist Mothering Practices

Brandi White: Assistant Professor – College of Medicine; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Health Equity; Community Engagement; Diversity of the Healthcare Workforce

Derrick White: Professor – Department of History; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Intellectual History; Sports History; Political History

Stephanie White: Associate Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Medical Student Education – College of Medicine; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Race and Medicine; Health Disparities; Addressing Inequities in Academic Medicine

Lauren Whitehurst: Assistant Professor – Department of Psychology; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Sleep and Circadian Rhythms; Autonomic Nervous System; Memory; Stress/Discrimination; Cognitive Health; Psychopharmacology; Neuroimaging; Non-Invasive Stimulation

Crystal Wilkinson: Professor – Department of English; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Creative Writing; Nonfiction Writing

Alex Williams: MA Student – Department of History; Student Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

George C. Wright: Senior Advisor to the President and Professor – Department of History; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: Kentucky History; Black History; Global Black Freedom Struggle

Nazera Sadiq Wright: Associate Professor – Department of English; Faculty Affiliate – African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Research Interests: African American Literature and Culture; Women’s Literature and Gender Studies; Black Girlhood Studies; Black Print Culture Studies

Austin C. Zinkle: Postdoctoral Scholar, Civil Rights and Restorative Justice, Kentucky – J. David Rosenberg College of Law and Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies. Research Interests: 20th Century United States History; Youth Activism; Black Freedom Struggle; United States Social Movements; United States Conservatism

John Cirigliano: President, Clearbrook CCM. Member, The Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies Director’s Council, 2020-Present
John has experience in private equity investment in the services and real estate sectors. His extensive real estate development and financing activities have been concentrated on retail and multi-family residential. John received his AB from Columbia University and his JD from New York Law School. He developed an interest in philanthropy as a scholarship student at Columbia University and has served on various boards and committees related to Columbia, Outward Bound USA, and other charities. In 1987 he endowed the John Cirigliano Scholarships at Columbia which now give preference to students from Kentucky. Columbia awarded John the Alumni Medal for Conspicuous Service in 1991 and the Maniatty Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2004.

Kip Cornett: Founder and Chief Emeritus, CORNETT. Member, The Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies Director’s Council, 2020 - Present
Kip graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1977 and founded the CORNETT advertising agency in 1984. Kip has always shown a passion for Lexington and the University of Kentucky. He is involved in various boards and civic efforts, including the Picnic with the Pops Commission and the Lexington Center Corporation Board of Directors.

Johnathon T. Davis: Managing Principal – JTDavis Asset Management. Member, The Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies Director’s Council, 2020 - Present
Johnathon is the managing partner and owner of JTDavis Asset Management. He was a three-year letter winner with the University of Kentucky Wildcat Basketball team and graduated in 1991. Johnathon actively contributes to the Lexington and Central Kentucky community through his unique business services and dedicated community service. He has served on various committees and fundraising campaigns for the University of Kentucky and currently serves on the board of directors for Bluegrass Care Navigators.

Dr. Rodney Jackson: Dentist/Owner - Pediatric Dentistry of Hamburg. Member, The Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies Director’s Council, 2023 – Present
Dr. Jackson was born and raised in Wheelwright, KY. He attended the University of Louisville for his undergraduate degree and the University of Kentucky for dental school and his pediatric residency. Dr. Jackson serves on several boards including the Lexington-Fayette County Board of Health, and the Fayette Education Foundation. He is also the Immediate Past-President of the Southeastern Society of Pediatric Dentistry.

David Kloiber: President - Kloiber Foundation. Member, The Commonwealth Insitute for Black Studies Director’s Council, 2023 – Present
David is a Lexington native, and from 2021 to 2023 he served on the LFUCG City Council as the Representative for the 6th District. As President of his family’s foundation his primary focus has been to provide innovative and effective methods to improve public education with a concentration on technological literacy. David strongly believes that there is a direct correlation between familiarity with new advancements and an improved chance of success for youth. David is a board member of the KCTCS (Kentucky Community and Technical College System) Foundation.

Christian Motley: Vice President, Partnerships and Community Impact - Results for America. Member, The Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies Director’s Council, 2023 – Present
Christian served in the administrations of Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and President Barack Obama and as a government relations director for the Kentucky Education Association. A resident of Lexington, KY, Christian serves as a board member for the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, and Lextran, just up the road from his beloved alma mater, Berea College.

Jordan Parker
Vice President for Client Relations - Traditional Bank. Member, The Commonwealth Insitute for Black Studies Director’s Council, 2020 - Present
Jordan grew up in Lexington, graduated from Tates Creek High School in 2000, and received his B.A. in English at Centre College in 2004. Jordan started working for Traditional Bank in September 2004 and now works as a Client Relationship Officer for the bank. He also serves on the board of the International Book Project, the Kentucky Humanities Council, the Lexington Public Library Foundation, and CivicLex. He enjoys reading and rewatching 80s and 90s action movies in his free time.