Our interdisciplinary, intersectional, and international program challenges you academically, personally, and politically to actively promote social justice and social transformation. Our courses give you the expertise to deal positively and effectively with issues of gender and sexuality facing individuals and society.
I am a teacher, writer, dancer, filmmaker and a visual and performance artist. I have a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Denver and am a MacDowell Fellow, a Kundiman Fellow and a Fulbright Scholar. I have published two books, This Human (Coconut Books 2013) and Ic (Horse Less Press 2017), as well as two films, Dogana/Chapti (Official Selection at Frameline43, Oregon Documentary Film Festival, QueerX and Seattle Queer Film Festival) and Mother Ghosting (2018).
I am a San Francisco Bay Area native, and I began my career in higher education working as an academic success counselor mentoring first-generation and underrepresented students. I received my Ph.D. in Afro-American Studies from the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at U Mass Amherst. I specialize in twentieth-century African American literature and culture with a particular interest in Black women’s literary studies. In my research, I explore the intersection between Black feminist thought and literary ecocriticism. Though I enjoy my career in academia, academia is simply what I do; it is not who I am. I am a writer and a thinker at heart, so you can find me lost in thought meditating on the poetics of Rhythm Nation and Paisley Park.
My research focuses on the way in which theology informs Islamist movements’ narratives and socio-political action, including their discourse on gender. In my classes I use a combination of historical, textual, legal, and anthropological approaches to analyze the complex interplay between Islamic religious traditions, gender, sexuality, and politics in the Muslim world and I strive to expose students to forms of feminism and articulation of LGBTQ rights that deviate from the secular Western canon.
Congratulations to those graduating with Departmental Honors and recipients of our 2021 student awards, scholarships, and Teacher of the Year.
The Honors Theses are available at ScholarWorks
Kelly Curtis
Ariana Siddiqui Dennis
Natalie Rahn
Katlyn Kailiuli
Eva Rodriguez
Mackenzie Sollars
Awarded to Students with Highest GPA
History and Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
Catherine of Aragon
Communications and Journalism
How To Raise a Feminist Son
Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies and Modern Languages
Presumed Incompetent II
