Faculty

Samira Abdur-Rahman holds a PhD in English from Rutgers University. She completed her BA in English Literature and Africana Studies at Rutgers University and an MA in Humanities and Social Thought from New York University. Previous to joining USF, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Frederick Douglass Institute at the University of Rochester. Her teaching and research interests include: African American Literature; childhood studies; autobiography studies; literary geography; and African...

Noopur Agarwal is a graphic designer who has worked in the nonprofit, publishing, and technology sectors, designing for brands, exhibitions, publications, and advertisements. Her travels, different homes, and heritage influence her practice as her work draws upon cultural hybridity, identity, and design that catalyzes change within a social context.

Professor Agha teaches courses in research methods and strategic management and previously taught sport finance and sport economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She worked in international business operations for several years and has also consulted to the sport and fitness industry by conducting economic impact studies, competitive analysis, and feasibility studies for clients in MLB, NBA, minor league hockey, local organizing committees, and fitness organization. Prof. Agha's...

Alexandra is a musicologist specializing in the Italian Renaissance, especially the madrigal, Italian opera, Feminist criticism, Romantic piano music, and German Baroque choral music. She holds a laurea (BA/MA equivalent) in Slavic Studies and Philology from the University of Pisa (Italy) and both a Masters and a PhD in musicology from Harvard University. She has published and read papers on Renaissance, operatic, and gender related topics in several journals and conferences. She is now working...

Professor Anttila-Hughes received his PhD in Sustainable Development from Columbia University. His research focuses on understanding the social impacts of environmental processes, particularly those influenced by environmental degradation and climate change. Professor Anttila-Hughes' current research areas include: public health impacts of the climate; behavioral responses to new information about environmental risks; and determinants of the spread of environmental attitudes and ideas.

Jorge A. Aquino, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, specializing in Latin American and U.S. Latinx Christian theologies and religious history, liberation theologies, race and religion, sexuality, and the theo-politics of social movements. He is involved in research, conference work, and publishing activities throughout the Américas (see his academia.edu profile). Dr. Aquino is a principal researcher in the Theology, Ethics, and Politics Working...

Inna Arzumanova received her PhD in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California and her BA from the University of California, San Diego. Her research interests include racial and gender performances, popular culture and aesthetics, and global media and arts industries. She has published on the usage of race in dance films, fashion and gender on television, gender production within digital culture, and the aesthetics of race...

Professor Geoffrey Ashton recently joined the Department of Philosophy at USF from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, where he also held an appointment as Assistant Professor of Asian Philosophy. Prof. Ashton has studied Sanskrit, Thai, and Spanish, and conducted research at numerous institutions of higher learning abroad (twice as a Fulbright scholar), including Jawaharlal Nehru University (Delhi, India), Deccan College (Pune, India), the Jñāna-Pravaha Institute (Varanasi, India...

Byron Au Yong composes songs of dislocation prompted by a broken lineage. Born to immigrants in Pittsburgh and raised in Seattle, his upbringing informs a creative process that examines tensions between the American Dream and sustainability. Current projects include 9 Lifeboats (San Francisco Exploratorium) and Activist Songbook (Asian Arts Initiative, International Festival of Arts & Ideas). He is the artist-in-residence at: the A/P/A Institute at NYU, the Montalvo Arts Center, Rutgers...