Lynn JohnsonAssistant Professor of Africana Studies (2004).Althouse Hall Room G10johnsoly@dickinson.edu (717) 245-1394
Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy (on sabbatical Spring 2014) Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, Distinguished Chair in Africana Studies (2009).Althouse Hall Room G20(717) 245-1894 | moonsamp@dickinson.edu B.A., San Francisco State University, 1986; M.A., University of Michigan, 2002; Ph.D., 2009.Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan, and a B.S. in Business Administration from San Francisco State University. Her scholarly interests lie at the intersection of expressive culture, social activism, and the politics of representation and subjectivity in the post-colonial Caribbean. With funding from the National Science Foundation, she conducted fieldwork in Trinidad and Tobago, exploring the dynamic relationships that exist between people of African and South Asian Indian ancestry and documenting how these are expressed though performance. At Dickinson College, Dr. van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy teaches courses on the African Diaspora and the Caribbean, and continues to engage in research on performance, activism and identity politics in the Caribbean.
Lynn JohnsonAssistant Professor of Africana Studies (2004).Althouse Hall Room G10(717) 245-1394 | johnsoly@dickinson.edu B.A., Salisbury University, 1996; M.A., Temple University, 1998; Ph.D., 2007.Her research interests are in 19th- and early 20th-century American Literature, African-American Literature, and African Aesthetics.
Megan H. GlickAssistant Professor of Women's and Gender Studies and Africana Studies (2010).Althouse Hall Room G12(717) 245-1050 | glickm@dickinson.edu B.A., Northwestern University, 2002; M.A., Yale University, 2004; M.Phil., 2005; Ph.D., 2008.Megan H. Glick teaches cultural studies of medicine and science, and critical race and gender studies. Recent publications include, “Ocular Anthropomorphisms: Eugenics and Primatology at the Threshold of the ‘Almost Human'” (Social Text, Fall 2012), and “Of Sodomy and Cannibalism: Embodiment, Dehumanization, and the Rhetorics of Same-Sex and Cross-Species Contagion” (Gender and History, Aug. 2011). Her current book manuscript examines ideas of the “human” in 20th century scientific and political discourses.
Jeremy R. BallAssociate Professor of History (2005).ballj@dickinson.edu | Visit Web SiteB.A., Boston College, 1994; M.A., Yale University, 1998; Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 2003.He teaches courses in African political and ecological history, apartheid, the Atlantic slave trade, and human rights. His research focuses on the labor and business history of Angola, Portuguese colonialism, and oral history.
Carolina CastellanosAssistant Professor of Spanish and Portuguese (2010).Bosler Hall Room 12M(717) 245-1834 | castellc@dickinson.edu Literata, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, 2000; M.A., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2004; M.A., Vanderbilt University, 2007; Ph.D., 2010.
Mara E. DonaldsonProfessor of Religion (1990).East College Room 207(717) 245-1228 | donaldsm@dickinson.edu B.A., Wilson College, 1971; M.A., Vanderbilt University, 1974; Ph.D., Emory University, 1984.Dickinson Award for Distinguished Teaching, 1998-1999. Ganoe Award for Inspirational Teaching, 2000-2001.Her teaching focuses on contemporary religious thought, especially feminist and liberation theologies, and religion and art, including contemporary fantasy literature, film, and popular culture.
James G. EllisonAssociate Professor of Anthropology (2005).Denny Hall Room 307(717) 245-1902 | ellisonj@dickinson.edu B.A., Michigan State University, 1987; M.A., University of Florida, 1990; Ph.D., 1999.A broadly trained cultural anthropologist, Ellison researches political and economic transformations and culture in eastern Africa, focusing on colonialism, socialism, and "neoliberalism." His main fieldwork sites are in Tanzania and Ethiopia. He also co-directs a summer field school in Tanzania to teach anthropological research methods.
Benjamin NgongAssistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies (2007).Bosler Hall Room 110(717) 245-1738 | ngongb@dickinson.edu Licence ès-Lettres Modernes, Université de Yaoundé, 1988; Maitrise ès Lettres Modernes; D.E.A., Littératures française et comparée, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens (France), 1991; Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 2007.His research and teaching interests include 20th-century French novel, Francophone African and Caribbean literatures, cultures, and film, colonial and postcolonial studies. His published and forthcoming articles focus on the relationship of power to social and political violence as portrayed in African and Caribbean literature and film.
Mariana PastAssistant Professor of Spanish (2006).Bosler Hall Room 10M(717) 245-1833 | pastm@dickinson.edu B.A., University of Texas at Austin, 1994; M.A., Duke University, 2002; Ph.D., 2006.Twentieth-century Spanish and Francophone Caribbean literature is her area of concentration, and her current projects focus on Haitian-Dominican relations and representations of the Haitian Revolution in both literary and historical texts written in Spanish, French, and Haitian Creole. Her interests also include questions of migration/exile in Caribbean literature and influence vs. imitation in Latin American literature.
Jerry PhilogeneAssistant Professor of American Studies (2005).Denny Hall Room 16(717) 254-8953 | philogej@dickinson.edu B.A., New School University, 1989; M.A., New York University, 1993; Ph.D., 2009.Jerry Philogene specializes in 20th century African American and Afro Caribbean visual arts and cultural history. Her teaching interests include interdisciplinary American cultural history and black cultural and identity politics. Her research interests explore the intersections of race, ethnicity, class, and gender as articulated in contemporary visual and popular culture.
Kim L. RogersProfessor of History (1983).239 W Louther St (717) 245-1517 | rogersk@dickinson.edu B.A., Florida State University, 1973; M.A., University of Minnesota, 1976; Ph.D. 1982.Her teaching interests center on recent U.S. history, urban America, and gender and family history. Research interests include biography and autobiography, oral history, and life-course analysis.
J. Mark RuhlGlenn E. and Mary L. Todd Professor of Political Science (1975).Denny Hall Room 207(717) 245-1501 | ruhl@dickinson.edu | Visit Web SiteB.A., Dickinson College, 1970; M.A., Syracuse University, 1972; Ph.D., 1975.Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, 1988-1989; Ganoe Award for Inspirational Teaching, 2012-13He specializes in comparative politics. His research centers on the politics of democratization in contemporary Latin America with a special emphasis on civil-military relations.
Vanessa C. TysonAssistant Professor of Political Science (2007).Denny Hall Room 102(717) 245-1232 | tysonv@dickinson.edu B.A., Princeton University, 1998; M.A., University of Chicago, 2002; Ph.D., 2011.Professor Tyson focuses her research on interracial alliances in the House of Representatives, and what political dynamics these alliances create outside of more traditional issues regarding race. More broadly, she focuses on Congress and American Political Institutions, as well as race and gender as they operate as social constructs in the United States.