Affiliated Faculty | African Studies Program

Affiliated faculty are listed alphabetically, noting their geographic areas of Africa experience, teaching and research.

If you are a faculty member at Pitt with interest and are interested in affiliating with African Studies, please complete our online form and attach your current CV for consideration to join our affiliated faculty.

Susan Andrade

Associate Professor
sza@pitt.edu
(412) 624-6550
View Website

Department:

English

Regions of Interest:

West Africa

Research:

Cultural/Women's Studies, Post-Colonial African Literature, and African Fiction

Martina Anto-Ocrah

Assistant Professor of Medicine
maa509@pitt.edu

View Website

Department:

Medicine

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa

Research:

Reproductive Epidemiology, Social Media & Digital Health, Global Health

Mohammed Bamyeh

Professor
bamyeh@gmail.com
4122655166
View Website

Department:

Sociology

Regions of Interest:

North Africa

Research:

Islam, Middle East and North Africa, anti-colonial movements, revolutions, sociology of knowledge, comparative sociology

Elena Baylis

Associate Professor
ebaylis@pitt.edu
(412)-867-8690
View Website

Department:

Law

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, Central Africa

Countries of Interest:

Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone

Research:

International Law and the Interaction Between International and Community Groups in Post-Conflict States

Eric Kwadwo O. Beeko

Adjunct Faculty, Department of Africana Studies & Department of Music
erb16@pitt.edu
(412) 648-7548
View Website

Department:

Music, Africana Studies

Regions of Interest:

West Africa

Countries of Interest:

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa

Research:

Ethnomusicology; Performing Arts; Ghanaian Neo-Pentecostal Performance Traditions; Black Performance Aesthetics and Politics of Identity

Yodit Betru

Assistant Professor
ykb2@pitt.edu
412-624-6854
View Website

Department:

Social Work

Bopaya Bidanda

Ernest Roth Professor
bidanda@pitt.edu
412-414-7000
View Website

Department:

Industrial Engineering

Research:

Multiple publications

Carol Mastrangelo Bove

Senior Lecturer
cbove@pitt.edu
(412) 624-6631
View Website

Department:

English

Regions of Interest:

North Africa, Southern Africa

Research:

World Literature and Film; Translation Studies; and Literature and Psychoanalysis

Jerome Branche

Professor of Latin American and Cultural Studies
branche@pitt.edu
(412) 624-5468
View Website

Department:

Hispanic Languages and Literatures

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa

Research:

Racialized Modernity and How Creative Writers Imagine and Articulate Slavery, Freedom, the Nation, Being, and Gender

Ronald A. Brand

Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg University Professor, Academic Director, Center for International Legal Education
rbrand@pitt.edu
(412) 648-1307
View Website

Department:

Law

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa

Countries of Interest:

Kenya, Tunisia

Research:

International Legal Education, Private International Law, Comparative Law, Dispute Resolution

Betty Braxter

Assistant Professor, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education
bjbst32@pitt.edu
(412) 624-7188
View Website

Department:

Nursing

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa

Research:

Women and Adolescent Health

Robin Brooks

Assistant Professor
rob88@pitt.edu
412-624-3356
View Website

Department:

Africana Studies

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa

Countries of Interest:

Jamaica, U.S.

Research:

20th and 21st Century Literature, African-American, Caribbean, and American Multiethnic Literatures, Feminist Theories and Postcolonial Studies

Thuy D. Bui

Associate Professor and Global Health Tract Director
buithuy@pitt.edu
(412) 692-4888
View Website

Department:

Medicine

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, Central Africa

Countries of Interest:

Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania

Research:

Social Determinants of Health, Global Health Education, Clinical Reasoning

Heath Cabot

Assistant Professor
hcabot@pitt.edu
412-648-7500
View Website

Department:

Anthropology

Gamby Diagne Camara

Visiting Lecturer, Ph.D.
GDC21@pitt.edu
513-218-5609
View Website

Department:

Africana Studies

Regions of Interest:

West Africa

Countries of Interest:

United States, Senegal

Research:

"Faces of Blackness: The Creation of the New Negro and Négritude Movements in Harlem and Paris"--Journal of Black Studies, Fall

Jonathan Chitiyo

Assistant Professor
chitiyoj@pitt.edu
814-362-5153
View Website

Regions of Interest:

Southern Africa

Research:

special education development, HIV/AIDS & Education of orphaned and vulnerable children

Christopher R. Cook

Assistant Professor, Pitt Johnstown Director of International Studies, Pitt Johnstown
ccook@pitt.edu
(814) 269-2977
View Website

Department:

Political Science

Regions of Interest:

Central Africa

Countries of Interest:

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Research:

Peacekeeping, The Connection Between Conflict and Economic Exploitation, Media and Press Perceptions of African Conflict

Ian Copeland

Post-Doctoral Associate
iancopeland@pitt.edu
412-624-7775
View Bio

Department:

Music

Regions of Interest:

Southern Africa

Countries of Interest:

Malawi

Research:

The musical and interpersonal ramifications of international aid, volun-tourism, and HIV/AIDS activism in the Southern African nation of Malawi.

Gerald Douglas

Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Informatics
gpd6@pitt.edu
412-648-9323
View Website

Department:

Medicine

Regions of Interest:

Southern Africa

Countries of Interest:

Malawi

Research:

Health information systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

Obinna Paschal Ezeihuoma

Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice
ope1@pitt.edu
814-362-5036
View Website

Regions of Interest:

West Africa

Countries of Interest:

Nigeria

Research:

Copycat suicide terrorism: The case of boko Haram in Nigeria

Abimbola Fapohunda

Instructor
aof3@pitt.edu
412-648-4165
View Website

Department:

Behavioral and Community Health Sciences

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, West Africa

Countries of Interest:

Tanzania, Nigeria

Research:

Racial and Ethnic Health Disparaties

Steven Finkel

Department Chair and Daniel H. Wallace Professor of Political Science
finkel@pitt.edu
(412) 648-7283
View Website

Department:

Political Science

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, Southern Africa

Countries of Interest:

Kenya, South Africa

Research:

Comparative Political Behavior; Public Opinion; Democratization

Muge Finkel

Assistant Professor
mfinkel@pitt.edu
(412) 383-9483
View Website

Department:

Public and International Affairs

Regions of Interest:

North Africa

Countries of Interest:

Egypt, Morocco

Research:

Social Policy, Economic Development

Jessica FitzPatrick

Assistant Teaching Professor
JLF115@pitt.edu

View Website

Department:

English

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa

Countries of Interest:

Nigeria, South Africa, Somalia

Research:

“Afrofuturist Aliens: Shifting to the space of third contact” (Extrapolation); "Seeds of Catastrophe" (LARB)

Sandra Founds

Associate Professor, Coordinator of the Family Nurse Practitioner Area of Concentration
foundss@pitt.edu
(412) 624-3822
View Website

Department:

Nursing

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa

Research:

Research of Quantitative of Five Genes Differentially; Women's Health and Pregnancy

Shailendra Gajanan

Chair of the Division of Management and Education & Professor of Economics
sng1@pitt.edu
814 362 7628
View Website

Department:

Economics

Countries of Interest:

US, Asia and Africa

Research:

Nutrition Economics (2017), Food Security, Poverty and Public Policy (3rd Edition, forthcoming)

Felix Germain

Associate Professor
ffg4@pitt.edu
412-648-2024
View Website

Department:

Africana Studies

Regions of Interest:

West Africa

Countries of Interest:

France, the Caribbean, West Africa, and the United States

Research:

Race Relations, Colonization, Decolonization, Postcolonial Migration, Labor Relations, Black Social Movements, and Gender Relations

Laurence Glasco

Associate Professor
lag1@pitt.edu
(412) 648-7486
View Website

Department:

History

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa

Research:

Race, Ethnicity, Urban History

Steven Goldstein

Assistant Professor
stg92@pitt.edu
412-624-3112
View Website

Department:

Anthropology

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, Southern Africa

Countries of Interest:

Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, Zambia

Research:

stgoldstein.com

Shelome Gooden

Associate Professor and Department Chair
sgooden@pitt.edu
(412)-624-5922
View Website

Department:

Linguistics

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa

Research:

African American Vernacular English, Creole Languages

Astou Fall Gueye

Assistant Professor
asg138@pitt.edu
608-443-8821
View Website

Department:

French & Italian Languages & Literatures

Regions of Interest:

West Africa

Countries of Interest:

Senegal

Research:

African cultural studies; Francophone literatures and cinema; Gender and Women's studies; African diaspora studies

Paul T. Harper

Clinical Assistant Professor
ptharper@katz.pitt.edu
412-559-8988
View Website

Department:

Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa

Research:

Research Topics - Racial Justice and Business Ethics; Recent Publication - The Symbolic Imagination, Journal of Business Ethics

Julia Hudson-Richards

Instructor
juh87@pitt.edu
724-561-7348
View Website

Department:

History

Research:

The development of large scale food production

Arif Jamal

Liason Librarian
ajamal@pitt.edu
412-648-7759
View Website

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa

Meshesha Make Jobo

Associate Professor
MMM352@pitt.edu
412-623-9978
View Bio

Department:

Linguistics

Regions of Interest:

Africa

Countries of Interest:

Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Ghana, Uganda

Research:

English language pedagogy, folklore, sociolinguistics, English language skills, gender and education, teaching and learning in higher education, higher education leadership etc.

Toya Jones

Assistant Professor and Director of the BASW Program
toyaj@pitt.edu
412-648-9306
View Website

Department:

Social Work

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, West Africa

Research:

Trauma Reactions in Social Work Students: Increasing Awareness of PTSD and Self-Care Through the PTSD Coach Application, Jon2021

Lauren Jonkman

Assistant Professor, Coordinator of International Pharmacy Student Experiences
ljf1@pitt.edu
412-648-8563
View Website

Department:

Pharmacy

Regions of Interest:

Southern Africa

Countries of Interest:

Namibia, Malawi

Research:

Public Health, International Pharmacy Practice

Margaret Judd

mjudd@pitt.edu
412-648-7525
View Website

Department:

Anthropology

Regions of Interest:

North Africa

Countries of Interest:

Egypt, Sudan

Research:

Bioarchaeology, paleopathology, trauma

Julius Kitutu

Associate Professor & Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Alumni Relations
jmm@pitt.edu
(412)-624-6910
View Website

Department:

Nursing

Regions of Interest:

Africa

Research:

Research Computing and Statistics

Leonora Anyango Kivuva

Adjunct Faculty
lak31@pitt.edu
412-654-4914

Department:

English

Research:

Multiple publications

Dela Kuma

Assistant Professor
DEK151@pitt.edu

View Website

Department:

Anthropology

Regions of Interest:

West Africa

Countries of Interest:

Ghana

Research:

www.rdkuma.com

Macrina Chelagat Lelei

Associate Director of African Studies, Adjunct Assistant Professor
macrina@pitt.edu
412-648-2058
View Website

Department:

Administrative and Policy Studies

Regions of Interest:

Africa, East Africa

Countries of Interest:

Kenya

Research:

Education in Africa, International Development, Access and Opportunities, Gender equity

Michael Lewin

Senior Lecturer
michael.lewin@pitt.edu
412-648-7630
View Website

Department:

Economics

Regions of Interest:

North Africa, Southern Africa

Research:

Natural Resources and Minerals, Governance

Filipo Lubua

Swahili Instructor, Less Commonly Taught Languages Center
lubua@pitt.edu
412-624-5512
View Website

Department:

Linguistics

Regions of Interest:

East Africa

Countries of Interest:

Tanzania, Kenya & USA

Research:

Academic entrepreneurship in Instructional Technology, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), Self-learning in LCTLs, Instructional technology and design, Online learning and teaching.

Claude Mauk

Director of the Less-Commonly-Taught Languages Center
cemauk@pitt.edu
412-874-7811
View Website

Department:

Linguistics

Research:

Phonetics (mainly on ASL)

Lanre Morenikeji

Assistant Professor
obm3@pitt.edu
607-269-7339
View Website

Department:

Biological Sciences

Regions of Interest:

West Africa

Research:

Biological Sciences

Jean Nachega

Associate Professor, Department of Infectious Disease and Microbiology, Department of Epidemiology
jbn16@pitt.edu
412-997-7680
View Website

Department:

Public Health

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, Southern Africa, Central Africa

Research:

HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis in Africa

Paul Nelson

Associate Professor
pjnelson@pitt.edu
(412)-648-7645
View Website

Department:

Public and International Affairs

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa

Research:

Human Rights and International Development

Tagbo H.R. Niepa

Assistant professor
tniepa@pittt.edu
412-383-4265
View Website

Department:

Bioengineering

Regions of Interest:

West Africa

Research:

Biofilm/Microbiome Engineering

Solomon Ofori-Acquah

Associate Professor, Hematology/Oncology Division
sfo2@pitt.edu
(412) 648-9231
View Website

Department:

Medicine

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa

Countries of Interest:

Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania

Research:

Molecular Hematology, Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), and Endothelial Biology Related to Novel Therapies for Pulmonary Vascular Dysfunctions

BioDun J. Ogundayo

Associate Professor, Director of Africana Studies and Foreign Languages, Pitt Bradford
ogundayo@pitt.edu
814-362-5015
View Website

Department:

Africana Studies

Regions of Interest:

Africa

Research:

Africana Studies, African & Comparative Literature, Comparative Linguistics, Translation, African Spirituality

Adedoyin Ogunfeyimi

Assistant Professor, Communications & The Arts
doyinJSP@pitt.edu
814-362-5061
View Website

Department:

Communication

Regions of Interest:

Southern Africa, West Africa

Countries of Interest:

Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa

Research:

Visual rhetoric, ethics, African humanism, environmental rhetoric, colonial & decolonial photography, divinatory system

Mary Ohmer

Associate Professor, COSA Chair
mlo51@pitt.edu
412-624-8214
View Website

Department:

Social Work

Regions of Interest:

West Africa

Countries of Interest:

Ghana

Research:

Social work and field placements in NGOs in Ghana

Jennifer Petrie-Wyman

Assistant Director and Adjunct Faculty
jlp224@pitt.edu
724-272-4852

Department:

Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, West Africa

Research:

Ethical Leadership in Africa; Women's Leadership in Africa; Decolonizing the curriculum; African Performing Arts

Louis Picard

Public Administration Program Director, Professor
picard@pitt.edu
(412)-624-7918
View Website

Department:

Public and International Affairs

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa

Countries of Interest:

Ghana, Guinea, South Africa, Morocco, Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, Ethiopia, Eritrea

Research:

African Politics, human security, international development

Maureen Porter

Faculty, Project Director, Fulbright-Hays on Ethiopia
mporter@pitt.edu
412-648-7041
View Website

Department:

Education

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa

Research:

Human Rights, Migration, Culturally-Responsive Education Policy

Shalini Puri

Professor, Director Literature Program
spuri@pitt.edu
(412)-624-2824
View Website

Department:

English

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa

Research:

Post-Colonial, Cultural Studies

Michele Reid-Vazquez

Assistant Professor
mbr31@pitt.edu
(412) 624-7206
View Website

Department:

Africana Studies

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa

Research:

African Diaspora in the Atlantic and Caribbean

Serena Rivera

Visiting Assistant Professor
ser86@pitt.edu
412-624-2703
View Website

Department:

Hispanic Languages and Literatures

Regions of Interest:

Southern Africa, West Africa

Countries of Interest:

Cape Verde, Mozambique, Angola

Research:

Intersections of Food, Gender and Race in Lusophone African and Latin American Literatures, Abject Food Politics in Lusophone African and Latin American Literature, The Politics of Food and the Body, Women's and Gender and Sexuality Studies

Pernille Røge

Associate Professor
per20@pitt.edu
412-648-7451
View Website

Department:

History

Regions of Interest:

West Africa

Countries of Interest:

Senegal

Research:

Eighteenth-century France and Europe, Early Modern European Empires, Atlantic History, Intellectual History

Taylor Seybolt

Director, Ford Institute for Human Security Associate; Associate Professor
seybolt@pitt.edu
(412) 624-8691
View Website

Department:

Public and International Affairs

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, West Africa

Countries of Interest:

Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan and South Sudan (Darfur Region)

Research:

Humanitarian Intervention and Ethnic Conflict

Oronde Sharif

Lecturer, Major Advisor, Curriculum Coordinator
senegal1@pitt.edu
(412)-648-2276
View Website

Department:

Africana Studies

Regions of Interest:

West Africa

Research:

African dance

Abdesalam Soudi

Lecturer and Program Advisor
soudia@pitt.edu
412-648-8915
View Website

Department:

Linguistics

Regions of Interest:

North Africa, West Africa

John Stoner

Executive Director for Academic Affairs, UCIS; Lecturer
stonerjc@pitt.edu
(412)-648-7485
View Website

Department:

History

Regions of Interest:

Southern Africa

Countries of Interest:

South Africa

Research:

Modern South Africa, American Cold War policy in Africa

Christel Temple

Associate Professor
cnt15@pitt.edu
(412)-648-7556
View Website

Department:

Africana Studies

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa

Research:

African,diaspora literature,cultural theory

Nuno Themudo

Associate Professor
themudo@pitt.edu
(412)-648-7432
View Website

Department:

Public and International Affairs

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa

Research:

Public organization management, environment and development policy, corruption and transnational governance

John Walsh

Associate Professor
jpw64@pitt.edu
617-699-3582
View Website

Department:

Linguistics

Regions of Interest:

North Africa, West Africa

Research:

Francophone African literature; Caribbean Studies; Environmental Humanities; migration, climate change, urban imaginaries

Karin Elisabeth Warner

Professor
DrKarinWarner@pitt.edu
412-383-7746
View Website

Department:

Nursing

Mari Webel

Assistant Professor
mwebel@pitt.edu
(412) 648-7451
View Website

Department:

History

Regions of Interest:

East Africa

Research:

Modern Africa, History of Health and Disease, Environmental History, Imperialism and Colonialism

Josef Werne

Department Chair
jwerne@pitt.edu
(412) 624-8775
View Website

Department:

Geology and Environmental Science

Regions of Interest:

East Africa

Countries of Interest:

The East African Rift Valley, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia

Research:

Paleoclimate & Environmental Change, Biogeochemistry and Geobiology, Limnology

Sylvanus Wosu

Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Diversity
snn2@pitt.edu
(412)-624-9842
View Website

Department:

Swanson School of Engineering

Regions of Interest:

East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa

Research:

Mechanical Engineering