Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice
Affiliated Faculty and Fellows
Our current Faculty, Postdoctoral Research Associates, Graduate Fellows, Affiliated Fellows, and Past Fellows.
Research Cluster Faculty Fellows
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Linford D. Fisher
Stolen Relations Project Research Cluster Faculty Fellow; Associate Professor of History -
Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve
Mass Incarceration and Punishment in America Research Cluster Faculty Fellow; Associate Professor of Sociology -
Seth Rockman
Slavery & Finance Research Cluster Faculty Fellow; Associate Professor of History -
Elena Shih
Human Trafficking Research Cluster Faculty Fellow; Manning Assistant Professor of American Studies; Director of Graduate Studies, MA in Public Humanities (2025–2028); Associate Director of Academics, Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice -
Taneisha Wilson
Race, Medicine, and Social Justice Research Cluster Faculty Fellow; Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine; Attending Physician, Brown Emergency Medicine; Director, Equity Initiatives, Brown Emergency Medicine
Public Humanities Faculty
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Anthony Bogues
Inaugural Director, Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice (on leave July–December 2025); Director, MA in Public Humanities (on leave July–December 2025); Asa Messer Professor of Humanities and Africana Studies -
Akeia de Barros Gomes
Adjunct Lecturer in Slavery and Justice -
Marisa Mazria Katz
Adjunct Lecturer in Slavery and Justice -
Steven Lubar
Public Humanities Faculty Member (2004–2025); Founding Director of the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage (2004–2014); George L. Littlefield Professor of American History Emeritus, Department of American Studies -
Brian Meeks
Acting Director of the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice (July–December 2025); Acting Director, MA in Public Humanities (July–December 2025); Professor of Africana Studies -
Elena Shih
Manning Assistant Professor of American Studies; Director of Graduate Studies, MA in Public Humanities (2025–2028); Associate Director of Academics, Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice
Public Humanities Faculty Associates
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Katharina Galor
Hirschfeld Senior Lecturer in Judaic Studies -
Yannis Hamilakis
Joukowsky Family Professor of Archaeology; Professor of Modern Greek Studies -
Steven Lubar
Public Humanities Faculty Member (2004–2025); Founding Director of the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage (2004–2014); George L. Littlefield Professor of American History Emeritus, Department of American Studies -
Robert W. Preucel
Professor of Anthropology; Director of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology -
Andrew Scherer
Director of the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World (JIAAW); Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology -
Susan Smulyan
Professor Emerita, American Studies -
Parker VanValkenburgh
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology
Affiliated Faculty
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Linford D. Fisher
Stolen Relations Project Research Cluster Faculty Fellow; Associate Professor of History -
Steven Lubar
Public Humanities Faculty Member (2004–2025); Founding Director of the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage (2004–2014); George L. Littlefield Professor of American History Emeritus, Department of American Studies -
Emily Owens
Simmons Center Faculty Fellow; Assistant Professor of History
Faculty Associates
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Geri Augusto
Senior Fellow in International and Public Affairs, Watson Institute -
Rae Gould
Executive Director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative (NAISI) -
Joseph S. Meisel
Joukowsky Family University Librarian
Visiting Assistant Professors
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Mack Scott
Visiting Assistant Professor of Slavery and Justice
Lecturers
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Akeia de Barros Gomes
Adjunct Lecturer in Slavery and Justice
Postdoctoral Fellows
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Christopher Baldwin
Simmons Center/JCB Joint Postdoctoral Research Associate in Slavery and Justice -
Latoya Teague
Simmons Center/Watson Institute Joint Historical Injustice and Democracy Postdoctoral Research Associate
Visiting Scholars
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Paul Gardullo
Past Fellows
- Michael Becker, CSSJ/JCB Joint Postdoctoral Research Associate in Slavery and Justice
- Imen Boussayoud ’26 Ph.D., Reimagining New England Histories Graduate Proctor
- Victoria Cheff ’26 Ph.D., Reimagining New England Histories Project Coordinator
- Melaine Ferdinand-King ’24 Ph.D., Graduate Coordinator for Creating the New World: The Transatlantic Slave Trade
- Julia Gettle ’23 Ph.D., Unfinished Conversations Research Assistant
- Kennedy Jones ’23 A.M., Graduate Fellow for the Study of the Public History of Slavery
- Allyson Laforge ’24 Ph.D., Reimagining New England Histories Collections Management Assistant
- Justin Lang ’25 Ph.D., Graduate Associate Research Fellow, Carceral State Reading Group Co-Facilitator
- Marcelo Rosanova Ferraro, Simmons Center/Watson Historical Injustice and Democracy Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Mack Scott, Visiting Assistant Professor, Reimagining New England Histories Project
- Malcolm Thompson ’25 Ph.D., Graduate Associate Research Fellow, Global Curatorial Project
- Susanna Turbay ’23 A.M., Global Curatorial Project Researcher
- Teo Wickland, Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow; Postdoctoral Research Associate in Urban Studies; Academic Affiliate, Simmons Center
- Sherri Cummings PhD '22, Graduate Associate Research Fellow, Global Curatorial Project
- Felicia Denaud PhD '22, 6th Year Interdisciplinary Graduate Dissertation Fellow
- Jeffrey Feldman PhD '22, Graduate Fellow
- Melaine Ferdinand-King PhD '24, Graduate Associate Research Fellow, Imagined New Project
- Allyson Laforge, Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice Graduate Proctor
- Leonora Masini PhD '22, 6th Year Interdisciplinary Graduate Dissertation Fellow
- Elizabeth Mathews AM ’22, Graduate Associate Research Fellow, Global Curatorial Project
- Larissa Nez, Reimagining New England Histories Graduate Proctor
- Marcelo Rosanova Ferraro, Simmons Center/Watson Historical Injustice and Democracy Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Zachary Sell, Visiting Assistant Professor
- Rai Terry AM '22, Graduate Fellow for the Study of the Public History of Slavery
- Miranda Worl, Reimagining New England Histories/NAISI Fellow
- Rui Gomes Coelho, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Archaeology and the Ancient World
- Breylan Martin AM '21, Graduate Fellow for the Study of the Public History of Slavery
- Jeffrey Feldman PhD '21, 6th Year Interdisciplinary Graduate Dissertation Fellow
- Charlene Fletcher, Emerging Voice, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Slavery and Justice
- Melaine Ferdinand-King PhD '24, Graduate Associate Research Fellow Imagined New Project
- Zachary Sell, Visiting Scholar
- Rui Gomes Coelho, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Archaeology and the Ancient World
- Seth Rockman, CSSJ Faculty Fellow Seminar Affiliate, Associate Professor of History
- Roselyne Gerazime, Ruth J. Simmons Postdoctoral Fellow in Slavery and Justice
- Chandra Marshall AM '20, Graduate Fellow for the Study of the Public History of Slavery
- Heather Sanford PhD '20, 6th Year Interdisciplinary Graduate Dissertation Fellow
- Sylviane Diouf, Visiting Scholar
- Zachary Sell, Visiting Scholar
- Hadiya Sewer, Visiting Scholar
- Crystal Eddins, Ruth J. Simmons Postdoctoral Fellow in Slavery and Justice
- Nic John Ramos, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Race and Medicine
- Felicia Bevel PhD '19, 6th Year Interdisciplinary Graduate Dissertation Fellow
- Paul M. B. Gutierrez PhD '19, Associated Graduate Fellow
- Johanna Obenda AM '19, Graduate Fellow for the Study of the Public History of Slavery
- Sandra Arnold AM '18.5, Graduate Fellow for the Study of the Public History of Slavery
- Emily Owens, Faculty Fellow
- Zach Sell, Ruth J. Simmons Postdoctoral Fellow in Slavery and Justice
- Nic John Ramos, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Race and Medicine
- Daniel Platt Ph.D. '18, Associated Graduate Fellow
- Ricarda Hammer, Interdisciplinary Graduate Dissertation Fellow
- Johanna Obenda AM '19, Graduate Fellow for the Study of the Public History of Slavery
- Sandra Arnold AM '18, Graduate Fellow for the Study of the Public History of Slavery
- Arielle Julia Brown AM '17, Graduate Fellow for the Study of the Public History of Slavery
- Matthew Reilly, Visiting Assistant Professor of Slavery & Justice
- Emily Owens, Faculty Fellow
- Amelia Hintzen, Ruth J. Simmons Postdoctoral Fellow in Slavery and Justice
- Isadora Moura Mota, Dissertation Fellow
- Dr. Claire Andrade-Watkins, Visiting Scholar
- Elena Shih, Faculty Fellow
- Jennifer Page, Ruth J. Simmons Postdoctoral Fellow in Slavery and Justice
- Maiyah Gamble-Rivers AM '16, Youth Program Manager & Graduate Fellow for the Study of the Public History of Slavery
- Tatiana Gellein MD ’16, Sc.B. ‘10, Graduate Fellow for the Study of Race and Health Inequities
- Matthew Beach, Dissertation Fellow
- Charlie Cobb, Visiting Fellow
- Seth Rockman, Faculty Fellow
- Mekala Audain, Ruth J. Simmons Postdoctoral Fellow in Slavery and Justice
- Justin Pope, John Carter Brown Library and the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice Joint Postdoctoral Fellow
- Lorenzo Ravano, Visiting Graduate Fellow
- Jazzmen Lee-Johnson AM ‘15, Graduate Fellow for the Study of the Public History of Slavery
- Maiyah Gamble-Rivers AM '16, Youth Program Manager & Graduate Fellow for the Study of the Public History of Slavery
- Patricia A. Lott, Ruth J. Simmons Postdoctoral Fellow in Slavery and Justice
- Elon Cook AM '14, Graduate Fellow for the Study of the Public History of Slavery
- Jazzmen Lee-Johnson AM ‘15, Graduate Fellow for the Study of the Public History of Slavery
- Elon Cook AM '14, Graduate Fellow for the Study of the Public History of Slavery