Regular Faculty
James Ford III, Chair
Mary Jane Hewitt Department Chair in Black Studies; Associate Professor, English and Black Studies
B.A., Morehouse College; M.A., Ph.D, University of Notre Dame
James Edward Ford III’s teaching and scholarship focus on three fields: The Aesthetics of Black Radicalism; Black Popular Culture; and Western Political Thought.
Erica Ball
Professor of Black Studies
B.A., Wesleyan University; M.A., Ph.D., The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Erica L. Ball is a historian who specializes in nineteenth and twentieth-century African American history.
Michael W. Murphy
Assistant Professor, Black Studies
B.A., University of San Diego; M.A., Ph.D, Brown University
Professor Murphy’s research and teaching emphasizes anticolonial and environmental approaches to sociological thought.
Yumi Pak
Associate Professor, Black Studies
B.A., University of California, Santa Cruz; M.A., P.h.D, University of California, San Diego
Yumi Pak is a student, scholar and instructor of Black literary and cultural studies, particularly within the overlaps and interstices between the United States, Scotland and Jamaica.
Affiliated Faculty
Michael Amoruso
Assistant Professor, Religious Studies
B.A., Lehigh University; M.A., University of Chicago; M.A., Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin
Areas of specialization: death, race, and urban religion in the United States and Latin America.
Sharla Fett
Robert Glass Cleland Professor in American History
B.A., Carleton College; M.A., Stanford University; Ph.D., Rutgers University
Sharla Fett teaches courses on early U.S. and African American history, including the Atlantic World, Slavery and the Antebellum South, U.S. Women’s History, and Collective Memory and Slavery’s Legacies. Read her Oxy Story profile.
Regina Freer
Professor, Politics
B.A., UC Berkeley; Ph.D., University of Michigan
Regina Freer’s research and teaching interests include race and politics, demographic change, urban politics, and the intersection of all three in Los Angeles.
Will Power
Assistant Professor, Theater & Performance Studies
B.A., San Francisco State University
Will Power is an internationally renowned playwright, performer, lyricist and educator.
Ryan Preston-Roedder
Professor, Philosophy
B.A., Rice University; Ph.D., New York University
Ryan Preston-Roedder specializes in moral and political philosophy, moral psychology, and philosophy of religion.
Movindri Reddy
Professor, Diplomacy and World Affairs
B.A., University of Natal; M.A., Ph.D., Cambridge University
Movindri Reddy teaches courses on international political processes, international organizations, international theory, South African politics, African politics, and comparative South Asian politics.
La Mont Terry
Associate Professor, Education
A.B., M.A.T., Occidental College; Ph.D., UCLA
A former classroom teacher and mathematics coach, La Mont Terry's research focuses on the creation of critical race "counterspace" as an alternative environment for the mathematics education of high school-aged Black males.