DEI-Focused Cluster Hires
History of CLA's Cluster Hires
The College of Liberal Arts conducted its first cluster search focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in 2017 and this search was designed to attract a diverse group of academics invested in inclusive teaching and dedicated to scholarly contributions in this area. We successfully hired seven assistant professors across several departments. All have been involved in diversity and inclusion efforts in their departments, our college, the university, and in the community.
To promote equity-minded and inclusive teaching strategies across the university and increase curricular coverage of areas related to DEI, a university-wide cluster of tenure-track faculty search was launched in 2019. From this search, five new assistant professors were hired in the College of Liberal Arts. During the 2021-2022 school year, a third search was launched that resulted in successfully hiring 10 assistant professors representing eight different departments, all of whom are experts in DEI areas and/or in inclusive teaching and work with underserved students. In 2024-2025 we welcomed six new faculty from five departments who specialize in migration and immigration in Latinx/e populations as part of CLA's fourth DEI focused-cluster hire search.
Meet the DEI-Focused Cluster Faculty
2024 Cohort
This cluster involved a curricular theme: Migration and Immigration in Latinx/e Populations
Sergio Fernando Juárez (he/him/his)
Communication Studies Department
Degree: Ph.D. in Communication Studies, University of Denver
Research Interests: Critical pedagogies in university settings; Intercultural communication; Pathways to higher education; Immigration media and politics
G. Aron Ramirez (he/him/él)
History Department
Degree: Ph.D. in History, Yale University
Research Interests: Latine history, the twentieth-century US, urban history, the history of the political economy, and housing policy
Melissa Manzanares (she/her)
Interdisciplinary Studies in the Liberal Arts Department
Degree: Ph.D. in Sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Research Interests: International migration across the Americas; Labor experiences, labor violations, and human trafficking among Latin American migrants; Unpaid family labor, work-family conflict, gender
Jared P. Van Ramshorst (he/him/his or él/él/su)
Political Science Department
Degree: Ph.D. in Geography, Syracuse University
Research Interests: Immigration, Border and Immigration Enforcement, Race and Ethnicity, Urban Studies
Ivan Hernandez (he/him/his)
Psychology and Child Development Department
Degree: Ph.D. in Social Psychology, Northwestern University; B.A. from CSU San Marcos
Research Interests: Social psychology, social identity, motivation, emotion, higher education, STEM equity and inclusion
Daniel Rodriguez Ramirez (he/they/él)
Psychology and Child Development Department
Degree: Ph.D. in Social Psychology, UC Santa Cruz
Research Interests: Psychology of Social Change, focus on transformative change in abolitionist organizing and care work; Immigrant psychological well-being and the psychology of immigration; Participatory action research and community-engaged research
2022 Cohort
Alexia Arani (she/they)
Women’s, Gender, & Queer Studies Department
Degree: Ph.D. in Anthropology with a specialization in Critical Gender Studies from UC San Diego
Research Interests: Disability Justice, queer/trans of color critique, social movements, state violence, prison abolition and care work
Darrian Carroll
Communication Studies Department
Degree: Communication Studies from the University of Maryland
Research Interests: Race, Rhetoric, World-Making
Alison Cheung
Communication Studies Department
Degree: Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Utah
Research Interests: Rhetorical criticism, rhetorics of race, critical media studies and Asian American cultural production
Ashley Clemons
English Department
Degree: Ph.D. from the University of Florida; B.A. from Wayne State University
Research Interests: African American Literature; Contemporary American Literature; Detroit’s Black Cultural & Literary Studies; and Afrofuturism
Nikhil Deb
Social Sciences Department
Degree: Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Tennessee; M.A. in Sociology from Ohio University; M.S.S in Sociology from Shahjalal University in Bangladesh Research Interests: Political Economy, Development and Environment, Global South.
Maya Hislop
English Department
Degree: Ph.D. in English from University of Virginia;
B.A. in English from Williams College
Research Interests: African American Literature, 20th & 21st century; Gender studies, sexual violence/misogynoir; Carceral studies, prison abolition; Media studies, race, gender, and class
Susana A. López (she/her/ella)
Psychology and Child Development Department
Degree: Ph.D. in Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology from the University of California Santa Barbara; M.S. in Psychology from Cal Poly; B.S. in Psychology from Cal Poly
Research Interests: Racial Trauma and Healing, Stress and Resilience, Immigration, Acculturation and Mental Health Disparities in underserved communities.
Jorge E. Moraga
Ethnic Studies Department
Degree: American Studies from Washington State University
Research Interests: Latinx Studies; Sociology of Sport; Race, Class, Gender in Popular Culture & Media
John Paul Paniagua
History Department
Degree: Ph.D. from Princeton University; B.A. from Whittier College
Research Interests: Indigenous Americas, Colonial Atlantic World
Gabriel Soldatenko
Ethnic Studies Department
Degree: Ph.D. in Philosophy from SUNY Binghamton; M.A. in Philosophy from SUNY Binghamton; B.A. in History from Arizona State University; B.A. in Philosophy from Arizona State University
Research Interests: Latinx Studies, Urbanism and Critical Social Theory
2019 Cohort
Yun Lucy Bencharit
Psychology and Child Development Department - Diversity and Organizational Behavior
Degree: Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University
Research Interests: Cultural variation in emotional expressions in work settings, teamwork, and group dynamics across cultures; diverse, equity and trust in organizations.
Deborah Donig
English Department - Global Anglophone Literatures
Degree: Ph.D. in English from University of California, Los Angeles
Research Interests: Global Anglophone Literature, Human Rights, Comparative Genocide, and Humanistic Technology
Thanayi Jackson
History Department - African American History
Degree: Ph.D. in United States History from University of Maryland
Research Interests: Politics and Race in the U.S. from 1865, Civil War and Reconstruction, African American Activism, Partisanship and Political Culture.
Shanae Martinez
English Department - Indigenous Studies
Degree: Ph.D. in English Literature and Clutural Theory from University of Wisconsin
Research Interests: Indigenous American Literatures, Indigenizing knowledge production, Decolonial Praxis, Transnationalism, Trans-Indigenous Resistance, Feminist Alliance and Tourism.
Kylie Parrotta
Social Sciences Department - Criminology and Gender
Degree: Ph.D. in Sociology from North Carolina State University
Research Interests: Social Psychology of Organizational Change, Race and Gender Disparities, Identity Work and Stigma Management, 21st Century Policing, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and Race & STEM.
2017 Cohort
Jay Bettergarcia
Psychology and Child Development Department - Multicultural Psychology
Degree: Ph.D. in Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology from UC Santa Barbara
Research Interests: LGBTQ mental health and wellness and affirming approaches to mental health care for transgender and nonbinary people
Joan Meyers
Social Sciences Department - Diversity in the Workplace
Degree: Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Davis
Research Interests: Diversity and inclusion in the workplace
Steven Ruszczycky
English Department - Queer Studies
Degree: Ph.D. from University of Buffalo, SUNY
Research Interests: Queer theory, history and theory of pornography, sexual studies, disability studies, and the medical humanities
Emily Ryalls
Communication Studies Department - Mediated Representations of Race and Gender
Degree: Ph.D. from University of South Florida
Research Interests: Cultural studies and feminist media studies, with a focus on popular culture and issues of race, gender, class, and sexuality
Farah Al-Nakib History Department - North African and Middle Eastern History
Degree: Ph.D. in History from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London
Research Interests: Urban history of Kuwait city before and after oil