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Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies

Program Faculty

  • Maria Acosta Cruz

    Professor, Language, Literature & Culture

    Born and raised in Cabo rojo, Puerto Rico, Maria Acosta Cruz received a B.A. from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in comparative literature from the State University of New York at Binghamton in […]

  • Belen Atienza

    Associate Professor, Language, Literature & Culture

    Dr. Atienza received a B.A. from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 1993 and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1995 and 2000, respectively. She has been at Clark since 2003. Dr. Atienza is currently working on a book […]

  • Asha Best

    Assistant Professor, Geography

    Dr. Asha Best received her Ph.D. (2017) in American Studies from Rutgers University-Newark. She is an urbanist whose research and teaching is interdisciplinary. Her work links mobilities studies, post-colonial and black studies, critical race theory and studies of urban informality. […]

  • Professor (or Dr). Parminder Bhachu studies the complex movements of people across international borders and interrogates their cultural and technical creativity which makes them particularly adept at navigating uncertainty and fragile worlds. Many years ago, Bhachu coined the concept of “twice […]

  • Ramon Borges-Mendez

    Associate Professor, Sustainability and Social Justice

    Ramón Borges-Méndez, PhD, born in Puerto Rico, has worked in the US, Latin America, and South Asia. He is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Community Development at the International Development, Community, and Environment Department at Clark University (Worcester, […]

  • Dr. Cardemil received a B.A. from Swarthmore College in 1993 and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 and 2000, respectively. He was subsequently at Brown University, where he completed his predoctoral internship in 2000, followed […]

  • Eric DeMeulenaere is a Professor in Clark University’s Education Department. Prior to joining Clark University’s faculty, he taught middle and high school social studies and English and coached soccer in Oakland and San Francisco, CA.  He also co-founded and served […]

  • Anita Fabos

    Professor, Sustainability and Social Justice

    Anita H. Fábos is an anthropologist who studies how people who experience displacement and forced migration think about and organize their mobile lives. She has lived, worked, and conducted research together with diasporic Sudanese Muslims and other forced migrants in […]

  • Odile Ferly

    Associate Professor of Francophone Studies, Language, Literature & Culture

    Dr. Ferly received a B.A. from the University of Bristol, UK, an M.A. from the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, and a Ph.D. from the University of Bristol. She has been at Clark since 2004 and is affiliated with […]

  • Janette Greenwood

    Senior Research Scholar, History

    Professor Greenwood received an A.B. from Kenyon College in 1977, an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1978 and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 1991. She has been at Clark since 1991. She is affiliated with […]

  • Betsy Huang is Professor of English at Clark University. She served as Associate Provost and Dean of the College from 2019 to 2024, as Director of the Center for Gender, Race, and Area Studies from 2017 to 2019, and was […]

  • Lisa Kasmer

    Associate Professor, English

    Department Chair, English

    Lisa Kasmer, Associate Professor of English, specializes in gender and sexuality studies and trauma studies in Romanticism and Victorian culture. Her research focuses on the construction of sociopolitical narratives and subjectivity in nineteenth-century literature through genre and form. Her monograph […]

  • Thomas Kuehne

    Professor, History

    Director of the Strassler Family Center

    Thomas Kühne is Professor of History and the Strassler Chair in the Study of Holocaust History and the Director of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. Currently he serves also as Director of Holocaust and […]

  • Stephen Levin

    Associate Professor, English

    Director of Graduate Studies, English

    Professor Levin specializes in contemporary British and postcolonial literature, transnational cultural studies, and critical and literary theory. His research focuses on the ways in which twentieth-century global conditions have shaped contemporary culture and produced new discourses of self and identity. […]

  • I am an urban geographer with interests in the meanings and understandings of place, local politics, legal geography, qualitative methodologies, and social movements (particularly neighborhood activism). My research focuses on the United States, including past research in the Twin Cities […]

  • Jie Park

    Associate Professor, Education

    Jie Park is an Associate Professor of Education. She holds a B.A. and M.A. in English Literature from Stanford, and a Ph.D. (2010) in Education from the University of Pennsylvania. A language and literacy scholar, she studies immigrant youth and […]

  • Paul Posner

    Associate Professor, Political Science

    Dr. Posner’s current research focuses on democratization and political participation in Latin America. In particular, he is interested in the impact of economic globalization and related state reforms on social organization and collective action in Latin America.  Current recent projects […]

  • Dr. Power-Greene completed his B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Before arriving at Clark in 2007, he taught courses at the University of Connecticut-Storrs, Hampshire College, […]

  • Amy Richter

    Professor, History

    Department Chair, History

    Professor Richter specializes in nineteenth and twentieth century American and cultural history, with an emphasis on women’s and urban history. Her teaching repertoire includes the history of American Women, U.S. urban history from the colonial era to the twenty-first century, […]

  • Raphael Rogers

    Professor of Practice, Education

    Raphael Rogers received his Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Clark University, a master's in curriculum and instruction for Northeastern University, and a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has been a professor at […]

  • Dr. Sperling teaches a variety of courses in comparative politics, including Russian politics; revolution and political violence; mass murder and genocide under communism; transitions to democracy; globalization and democracy; and political science fiction. Her research interests lie mainly at the […]

  • Andrew Stewart

    Associate Professor, Psychology

    Andrew L. Stewart received his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Social Psychology from the University of Connecticut and B.S. degrees in Psychology and Mathematics from Colorado State University. He has been at Clark since 2014. Professor Stewart is a social psychologist […]

  • Ora Szekely

    Associate Professor, Political Science

    Ora Szekely’s research focuses on the foreign and domestic policies of nonstate armed groups in the Middle East, as well as the gendered dimensions of civil war. Her work is based on field research conducted across the region. Her most […]

  • Ms. Tenenbaum received a B.A. from Antioch College and a Ph.D. from Brandeis University. She was the founding director of the Holocaust and Genocide Studies concentration and is also affiliated with Women's and Gender Studies, Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies, […]

  • Johanna Vollhardt

    Associate Professor, Psychology

    Dr. Vollhardt received a Ph.D. in Social Psychology (with a concentration in the Psychology of Peace and Violence) from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and joined Clark University in Fall 2009. She is affiliated with CGRAS, CRES, HGS, and Peace […]

  • Dr. Williams teaches courses on international relations, including Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and International Security; U.S. National Security; Women and War; Popular Culture and IR; and Religion and International Relations. In addition to her research that addresses the connection between international […]