UofM’s Hooks Institute Announces Inaugural Academic Research Fellows
June 17, 2021 — The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change created the Hooks Academic Research Fellows with the goal of increasing the Hooks Institute’s research capabilities and interconnectedness with faculty working in civil rights across the nation. Serving for two years, Fellows assist the Hooks Institute in fulfilling its mission of teaching, studying and promoting civil rights and social change, and in becoming a premier center for scholars working on race and social justice scholarship. The Academic Research Fellows consist of faculty from diverse disciplines and universities around the country.
Hooks Academic Research Scholars
- Kami Anderson, Interculturalist, Scholar and Language Advocate
- Angela Antipova, Associate Professor of Geography, University of Memphis
- Wallis C. Baxter III, Senior Pastor of the Second Baptist Church, District Heights, Md.
- Sandra Cooley-Nichols, Professor Chair, Instruction Curriculum Leadership, University of Memphis
- Le’Trice Donaldson, Assistant Professor of History in the Applied Social Science Department at the University of Wisconsin-Stout
- Earle J. Fisher, Senior Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn.
- Elizabeth M. Gillespie, Assistant Professor in the Department of Public and Nonprofit Administration at the University of Memphis
- Cerise L. Glenn, Associate Professor of Communication Studies at UNC Greensboro
- Edith Gnanadass, Assistant Professor of Higher and Adult Education at the University of Memphis
- Rita Green, Instructor at the Crews School of Accounting at the University of Memphis
- Christopher A. House, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, University of Pittsburgh
- Kimberly P. Johnson, Associate Professor of Communications and an affiliate faculty member of Women’s Studies at Tennessee State University
- Liz Lane, Assistant Professor of English in the Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication Concentration at the University of Memphis
- SunAh M. Laybourn, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Memphis
- Michael Brandon McCormack, Associate Professor of Pan-African Studies and Comparative Humanities (Religious Studies) at the University of Louisville
- Annette Madlock, Adjunct, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and Marquette University
- AnneMarie Mingo, Assistant Professor of African American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State University
- Courtnee Melton-Fant, Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Systems Management and Policy at the University of Memphis
- Shameka Hamlin-Palmer, Clinical Assistant Professor, College of Health Sciences, University of Memphis
- Paige Pirkey, Researcher
- Sonya Ramsey, Director of the Graduate Certificate Program in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
- Melodie J. Rodgers, a Ph.D. student at Georgia State University in the Department of English and Literary Studies
- Don Rodrigues, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Memphis
- Kathy Lou Shultz, Charles Freeburg University Professor and Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the University of Memphis
- Jennifer Turchi, Visiting Assistant Professor in the Social and Behavioral Division at the University of Memphis School of Public Health
- Kiesha Warren-Gordon, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice/Criminology and the director of the African American studies program at Ball State University
- Courtney N. Wright, Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville
For more details and biographies of the Hooks Research Fellows visit this link.
“The backgrounds and disciplines of the Academic Research Fellows represent diversity that strengthens the Hooks Institute and the University of Memphis. They can help make our university a stronger community where all excel,” says Daphene R. McFerren, Hooks Institute Executive Director.
"I am pleased with the diversity of our Fellows across disciplines and departments. I look forward to working with our Fellows and helping the Hooks Institute continue as a premier center for scholars working on race and social justice scholarship," says Andre Johnson, Hooks Institute Scholar in Residence.
About the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change
The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute implements its mission of teaching, studying and promoting civil rights and social change through research, education and direct intervention programs. Institute programs include community outreach; funding faculty research initiatives on community issues; implementing community service projects; hosting conferences, symposiums and lectures; and promoting local and national scholarship on civil and human rights. The Hooks Institute is an interdisciplinary center at the University of Memphis. Contributed revenue for the Hooks Institute, including funding from individuals, corporations and foundations, is administered through the University of Memphis Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization. For more information, visit memphis.edu/benhooks.