Amy Ruggaber

Amy Ruggaber, MPA, is the Assistant Director of the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis. With over 20 years of experience as a performing artist, educator, and arts advocate, Amy's research focuses on inequities within policy systems that impact the arts workforce and marginalized communities. She curated exhibitions such as "Uplift the Vote," "The Fayette County Civil Rights Movement," and "The Photos of Art Shay." Amy also consulted on social policy for the More for Memphis project.

Interests: Social Justice, Social Change, Art and Performing Arts, Humanities, Civil Rights, Artificial Intelligence and Ethics

Dr. Brooke Shannon

Brooke Shannon is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Memphis. Drawing from her background in community engagement and organizing, her research interests include local government, policy agendas, public policy, political institutions, city councils, American federalism, and intergovernmental relations. Brooke previously taught Spanish in Memphis City Schools and facilitated training with the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center. She enjoys bicycles, vinyl collecting, and spending time with her dog, Mr. Chicken.

Interests: Local Government, Policy Agendas, Public Policy, Political Institutions, City Councils, American Federalism, Intergovernmental Relations

Dr. Tim McCuddy

Tim McCuddy is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Memphis. His research examines youth crime and violence, emphasizing the role of schools, neighborhoods, and digital communication in shaping offending and victimization. He is interested in community-based crime prevention and intervention efforts that improve safety outcomes among youth and young adults.  

Interests: Youth Crime & Violence, Peer Group Dynamics, Digital Communication & Crime, School Safety, Community Crime Prevention

Dr. Donal Harris

Donal Harris is the Orgill Endowed Chair for Engaged Research in the Department of English and Director of the Marcus W. Orr Center for the Humanities (MOCH) at the University of Memphis. His work focuses on 20th and 21st-century U.S. literature and culture, especially the relationship between the arts and social institutions. He has guest-curated exhibits and essay series for several Memphis cultural organizations, and for the past four years, partnered with Memphis Public Library to create digital collections and learning tools about the civic life of public libraries in the South.

Interests: Literature and the arts, social institutions, public humanities, digital humanities 

Dr. Courtnee Melton-Fant

Courtnee Melton-Fant, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Systems Management and Policy in the School of Public Health at the University of Memphis. Her research examines how state and local government policies and politics shape racial health and economic inequities. Her current projects examine the health and economic implications of state preemption of local government policies, as well as the relationships between housing policy and health.

Interests: State and Local Policy and Politics, Racialized Health Inequities, Economic Inequity

Dr. Brenda Mathias

Brenda Mathias, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Memphis School of Social Work. Grounded in Black feminist epistemology and intersectional theory, her research employs mixed-methods and community-based participatory approaches to examine how urban adolescents' engagement with neighborhood institutions influences their subjective psychological well-being. Dr. Mathias’ scholarship seeks to reduce social injustice by strengthening university-community partnerships. 

Interests: Urban Spaces, Community-based Participatory Approaches, Subjective psychological Well-being, University-community Partnerships, Neighborhood Institutions, intersectional Theory, Youth, Multiple Forms of Violence

Dr. Andrew Guthrie

Andrew Guthrie is an Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of Memphis. His research focuses on equitable transit-oriented development and shared prosperity community economic development. He has extensive experience in geospatial and community-engaged research, with a focus on housing justice.

Interests: Transportation Planning, Public Transit, Non-motorized Transportation, Housing, Alternative Land Tenure, Urban Governance and Political Economy

Dr. Arleen Hill

Arleen Hill is a professor and chair in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Memphis. She also serves as Director of the Emergency Management interdisciplinary minor. As a hazards geographer, her research and teaching focus on managing/reducing the impacts of disruptions on our society and environment. Arleen teams with practitioners and residents on applied, multidisciplinary efforts to address the causes of vulnerability and build capacity to absorb disruptions (resilience).

Interests: Social Vulnerability, Community Resilience, Scale, Remote Sensing, Practitioner Engagement, Nature-society Interactions

Dr. Katherine Lambert-Pennington

Katherine Lambert-Pennington, PhD, is the Director of the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy and an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Memphis. As an engaged anthropologist, she collaborates with residents and community organizations on research related to food access, housing inequalities, and well-being for Black women. She also co-leads the Community, Planning and Environmental Design (CoPED) study abroad program in Sicily.

Interests: Race and Social Inequality, Social Movements, Identity Production, Community Development, Food Justice, Alternative Food Networks, Participatory Action Research, Community-University Partnerships

Dr. Wesley James

Wesley James is the Founding Executive Director of the Center for Community Research and Evaluation (CCRE), Chair of the Department of Sociology, and Pat E. Burlison Professor at the University of Memphis. His primary research areas are medical sociology, demography, and rural health, focusing on mortality disparities, social determinants of health, and access to healthcare in the Mississippi Delta and the Southern U.S.

Interests: Social Determinants of Health, Infant and Maternal Health Disparities, Policy and Health Disparities, Demographic Determinants of Health and Mortality