SLAE - English & Foreign Languages Staff

Dr. Elizabeth Cuddy

Assistant Professor of English, Interim Chair
Location: Armstrong Hall, 217
Phone: 757-727-5400
E-mail: cuddy.elizabeth@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: British Literature, Composition

Dr. Elizabeth Cuddy
Assistant Professor
Location: Armstrong Hall322
Phone: 757-728-6733
cuddy.elizabeth@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: British literature, Composition

 

Courses Taught:
Written Communication I & II, English Literature I & II, Selections in Literature (Detective Fiction), Nineteenth-Century British Literature, Shakespeare, Great Masters of English Literature

Education:
Ph.D., Purdue University (2015); M.A., Literary Studies, Purdue University (2009); B.A., English and History, University of Minnesota Morris (2006)

Research and Scholarly Interests:
Dr. Cuddy’s research focuses on the history, transformation, and adaptation of literary narratives. Her current research projects are centered on Mary Cowden Clarke’s Shakespeare-inspired fiction and nineteenth-century Transatlantic literary studies.

Elizabeth Cuddy’s article “‘Why, by golly, they’re Pirates’: Pirate Narratives, College Sports, and African-American History in Hampton Roads, Virginia” was recently published in the September 2019 issue of The Journal of American Culture.

Dr. Jocelyn Amevuvor

Assistant Professor of English
Location: Phenix hall, 1219-A
Phone: 757-637-3668
E-mail: jocelyn.amevuvor@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: Composition, Children's Literature, YA Literature

Dr. Jocelyn Amevuvor
Assistant Professor of English
Location: Armstrong Hall1219-A
Phone: 757-637-3668

Dr. Jocelyn Amevuvor obtained her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction, focusing on literacies and English language arts, from Penn State University. She has her master’s in TESOL from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She has taught a range of classes, including English language classes and undergraduate and graduate-level children’s literature courses. Her research interests currently sit at the intersection of children’s literature, multimodal literacies, and pan-African studies.

Select Publications

Yenika-Agbaw, V., Quaynor, P., & Amevuvor, J. (2022). The Scholarship of African Children’s Literature:

Issues of representation of critical voices in the conversation. International Encyclopedia of Education, 4th Ed.

Griffith, J. J., & Amevuvor, J. (2020). Variations on the death of a grandparent: An analysis of youth memoir. English Teaching: Practice & Critique.

Amevuvor, J., & Hafer, G. (2019). Communities in the stalls: A study of latrinalia linguistic landscapes.

Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 16(2), 90-106.

Areas of Specialization:

Children’s and Young Adult Literature

Multimodal literacies

Family literacies

Multilingual writing and literacies

Ms. Nadrian Antoine

Assistant Professor
Location: Phenix hall, 1219-B
Phone: 757-637-3670
E-mail: nadrian.antoine@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: Composition and Rhetoric

Ms. Nadrian Antoine
Assistant Professor
Location: Armstrong Hall1219-B
Phone: 757-637-3670

Professor Antoine, an educational professional for over 30 years, has had the opportunity to teach multiple subjects at every grade level. She currently works to bridge the gap between high school curriculum and collegiate expectations in developmental writing and rhetorical analysis.

Mr. James Balls

Assistant Professor
Location: Armstrong Hall, 234
Phone: 757-728-6525
E-mail: james.balls@hamptonu.edu

Mr. James Balls
Assistant Professor
Location: Armstrong Hall234
Phone: 757-728-6525

 

Courses Taught: Introduction to Motion Pictures, Introduction to Filmmaking, Television Writing, Writing and Producing for New Media, Professional Internship, Written Communication II, and Independent Study

Education: MFA in Film Production from the Howard University (1997), BA in Political Science from Southern University (1990)

Research and Scholarship Interests: Black Cinema (including African American, African and African Diasporic film), Expository Documentary Film, and Sports Documentary Film

A veteran producer and editor, Professor Balls has worked as a nonlinear editor for Discovery Communications, Blackside, Inc. and WNET/Thirteen. His scholarly interests include teaching courses in film theory and history, narrative structure and screenwriting, and film production.

Dr. Scott Challener

Associate Professor of English, Interim Dean of the Graduate College
Location: Wigwam 310
Phone: 757-727-5454
E-mail: scott.challener@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: 20th- and 21st-century U.S. and Latinx Literatures and Cultures, Latin American poetry and fiction, comparative modernism, poetry and poetics.

Dr. Scott Challener
Associate Professor of English, Interim Dean of the Graduate College
Location: Wigwam Building 309

Dr. Raphael Comprone

Assistant Professor
Location: Armstrong Hall, 314-A
E-mail: raphael.comprone@hamptonu.edu

Dr. Raphael Comprone
Assistant Professor
Location: Armstrong Hall314-A

Dr. Margaret Cox

Associate Professor of English
Location: Armstrong Hall 238-B
Phone: 757-728-4326
E-mail: margaret.cox@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: African American Literature, Africana Studies, Diaspora Studies

Dr. Margaret Cox
Associate Professor of English
Location: Armstrong Hall238-B
Phone: 757-728-4326
E-mail: margaret.cox@hamptonu.edu

Dr. Daryl Lynn Dance

Assistant Professor
Location: Armstrong Hall, 334
Phone: 757-728-6121
E-mail: daryl.dance@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: Composition and Rhetoric and African American Literature and Rhetoric

Dr. Daryl Lynn Dance
Assistant Professor
Location: Armstrong Hall334
Phone: 757-728-6121
Expertise:Composition and Rhetoric and African American Literature and Rhetoric

 

EDUCATION

  • University of Kansas                                                            Ph.D., English 2013

Dissertation: Speaking on Behalf of Others: Understanding “Students’ Right to Their Own Language” through an Alternate Frame

  • Virginia Commonwealth University                                        M.A.,  English 1998
  • Hampton University                                                             B.A.,  English 1995

TEACHING AND RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Writing Theory and Pedagogy
  • African American Rhetoric and Literature
  • Service Learning

PUBLICATIONS

“Can Rachel Jeantel Speak?” College Language Association Journal,vol. 58, 2015, pp. 139-146.

Dance, Daryl Lynn and Frank Farmer. “Nostalgia for What Never Was: If Only English Could.” Review of Cross Language Relations in Composition, edited by Bruce Horner, Min-Zahn Lu, and Paul Kei Matsuda; and Affirming Students’ Right to Their   Own Language: Bridging Language Policies and Pedagogical Practices, ed. Jerrie Cobb Scott, Dolores Y. Straker, and Laurie Katz. JAC,vol. 31, 2011, pp.794-803.

 “Physical and Psychic Geographies in the Works of Zora Neale Hurston and Marita Bonner.” The Zora Neale Hurston Forum, vol. 22, Winter 2010, pp. 46-58.

COURSES TAUGHT

  • Advanced Writing Theory and Practices
  • Introduction to African American English
  • Introduction to Linguistics
  • Written Communication

Dr. Jacques L. Digbeu

Assistant Professor
Location: Harvey Library, 5th Floor, Language Lab
Phone: 757-728-6922
E-mail: jacques.digbeu@hamptonu.edu

Dr. Jacques L. Digbeu
Assistant Professor
Location: Harvey Library, 5th Floor, Language Lab
Phone: 757-728-6922
E-mail: jacques.digbeu@hamptonu.edu

Jacques Lohourou Digbeu, Ph.D.

Dr. Jacques L. Digbeu is a graduate of the University of Limoges and the prestigious University Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux III Talence in France. He is the holder of a Master’s Degree in German, a DEA (Degree of Advanced Studies in German) and a Ph. D. in German Studies. He is the author of the book Siegfried Kracauer et les grands Débats intellectuels de son Temps (Siegfried Kracauer and the main intellectual Debates of his Time), that was published in Germany in 2005. After teaching several years in France, Dr. Digbeu served as a German and French Professor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and is currently teaching at Hampton University.

E-mail: jacques.digbeu@hamptonu.edu

Mr. Brarailty (Rel) Dowdell

Assistant Professor and Director of Film Studies
Location: Armstrong Hall, 314
Phone: 757-728-5770
E-mail: brarailty.dowdell@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: Film Studies, English Composition

Mr. Brarailty (Rel) Dowdell
Assistant Professor
Location:Armstrong Hall314
Phone:757-727-5770
Expertise:Film Studies, English Composition

 

Courses Taught:

Written Communication I & II, Introduction to Filmmaking, Film Festival Planning, Professional Internship for Film, Film Criticism, Film Business

Education:

MFA, Film and Screenwriting, Boston University (1996), B.A. English (Magna Cum Laude) Fisk University (1993)

Research and Scholarly Interests:

Professor Dowdell’s research focuses on the constantly evolving history of film and its components, in addition to independent filmmaking and low-budget filmmaking and screenwriting.

Professor Dowdell’s has an extensive and very accomplished film and screenwriting background. His films have been acquired and distributed by major studies such as Sony Pictures and Lionsgate and screened at prestigious international venues such as Berlin and Cannes. His most recent film, his third feature which was a documentary entitled Where’s Daddy?, examined perspectives on the child support system and the specific effects and consequences to African-American families, with emphasis on the experience of fathers as participants in the system. The film has been acquired as a credible resource of academic study in the libraries of Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, M.I.T., Duke University, Vanderbilt University, Swarthmore College, UCLA, University of Southern California, Syracuse University of Law, Hofstra Law School, and Seton Hall Law Library.

The film also has a 100% consensus critics rating on the top film review website, Rotten Tomatoes:

Rotten Tomatoes link to Where’s Daddy?:: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wheres_daddy

Link to Professor Dowdell’s biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rel_Dowdell”

Mrs. Kristi Emerson

Instructor
Location: Armstrong Hall, 308
Phone: 757-727-5415
E-mail: kristi.emerson@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: Spanish

Mrs. Kristi Emerson
Instructor
Location: Armstrong Hall308
Phone: 757-727-5415
Expertise: Spanish

Education:
BA -Spanish- Mary Baldwin University
Staunton, VA

MA -Spanish Language and Culture, Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca
Salamanca, Spain

Courses taught:
Spanish 101, 102 – Introductory Spanish
Spanish 201, 202 – Intermediate Spanish
Spanish 301 – Advanced Oral and Written Expression I
Spanish 406 – Afro Hispanic Literature    
Spanish 440 – Experiential Learning – Study Abroad in Spain

Interests: Modern day Spain, ELE – Spanish as a Foreign Language, MARCO Común – International Linguistic Standard Framework and Study Abroad programming.

Dr. Nicholas Huber

Assistant Professor
Location: Armstrong Hall, 222
Phone: 757-675-2248
E-mail: nicholas.huber@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: Contemporary Fiction, Critical Theory, Economic Humanities

Dr. Nicholas Huber
Assistant Professor
Location: Armstrong Hall222
Phone: 757-675-2248

Nick Huber holds a Ph.D. in Literature from Duke (2019), a B.A. in English from Christopher Newport (2007), and completed postdoctoral research at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark (2022). From 2008-2011, he was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kazakhstan. You can find his publications in the journals Theory & Event, The Nordic Journal of Aesthetics, Novel: A Forum on Fiction, and the Open Library of the Humanities.

Dr. Karima K Jeffrey-Legette

Associate Professor
Location: Armstrong Hall, 333
Phone: 757-727-5466
E-mail: karima.jeffrey-legette@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: African-American Literature, Multi-Ethnic American Literature, Caribbean Literature, Postcolonial Studies

Dr. Karima K Jeffrey-Legette
Associate Professor
Location:Armstrong Hall333
Phone: 757-727-5466
Expertise: African-American Literature, Multi-Ethnic American Literature, Caribbean Literature, Postcolonial Studies

Courses Taught:

Karima Jeffrey-Legette specializes in Black Studies, African-American Literature, Multi-Ethnic American Literature, Caribbean Literature, Postcolonial Studies and Womanist/Feminist Theory. She is especially interested in Interdisciplinary Studies, incorporating film, music, visual arts, and other forms of media and technology into her courses. At Hampton University, she instructs ENG 101/102 (Written Communication), ENG 303/304 (Ethnic Literature), ENG 307 (Caribbean Literature and Film), ENG 311/312 (American Literature), and ENG 313/314 (African-American Literature). She has offered specialized courses in ENG 316 (African Writers II), ENG 323 (The Bible as Literature), ENG 430 (Senior Thesis), and ENG 403 (Contemporary Themes in African-American Literature).

Education:

Dr. Jeffrey-Legette received a Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors, from Swarthmore College. Her Master of Arts degree was completed at Lehman College of the City University of New York, and the doctorate was conferred by Howard University.

Research/Scholarly Interests:

Notable works by her are: “George Lamming’s ‘The Boy and the Sea’–A Littoral Artist’s Experimentation with Language and a Postcolonial Examination of the Self” (Anthurium, 2015), “Mother of a New World? Stereotypical Representations of Black Women in Three Post Apocalyptic Films” (Journal of Feminist Scholarship, 2014), “George Lamming’s IN THE CASTLE OF MY SKIN: A Littoral Figure Discovers Self-Identity and Authorial Language” (Journal of Literature and Art Studies, 2012), “Littoralia or the Littoral as Trope: Developing a Paradigm of Post-coloniality”(C.L.R. James Journal, 2010), and biographies on Nalo Hopkinson (THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT, 2020) and Langston Hughes (ICONS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE, 2011). Currently, she is completing a two-book project: WATCH IT! : A Scholarly Investigation of Speculative Film and Moving Images by or about Black Women and Girls, which should be available in print November/December of 2022 and BLACK GIRLS RIGHT/WRITE THE FUTURE: SPECULATIVE FICTION BY OR ABOUT BLACK WOMEN AND GIRLS, which should be completed and in print by 2024.

Honors/Awards:

Joining a community of leading scholars in the humanities, Dr. Jeffrey-Legette is the recipient of a 2022-2023 Residential Fellowship at the National Humanities Center (NHC); the fellowship was awarded to support her efforts in completing BLACK GIRLS WRITE. Additional, honorary distinctions include a UNCF/Mellon Faculty Residency Release Time Award (2020), another UNCF/Mellon Faculty Residency Summer Research Award at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (2016), an invitation for summer study with Toril Moi at the National Humanities Center (2011), participation in the University of Richmond Tocqueville Seminar on Transatlantic Studies (2011), and a New York University Faculty Resource Network Summer Seminar on Classical Studies and Postcolonial Literature (2013). Dr. Jeffrey-Legette has coordinated two UNCF/Mellon Teaching and Learning Institutes at Hampton University: most recently, “”Black Girls Right/Write the Future!!!” (June 2018), and one entitled ”Extending a Legacy of International Presence and Outreach at HBCUs-Social Justice and Educational Policy for the Twenty-First Century” (August 2011). She has moderated panels and been a presenter at various professional conferences. In addition to attending events such as these to support her research, teaching, and service, Dr. Jeffrey-Legette is the recipient of Faculty Development Awards from the Historically Black Colleges/Universities-Faculty Development Network (2012), the University of Richmond Tocqueville Seminars (2011-2012), UNCF/Mellon Programs (2010-2020), Hampton University (2009), and Hope College (2005). Of these achievements, she is most proud of her work with UNCF/Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows (MMUF). Having been a MMUF fellow at her undergraduate alma mater, she sees it as a privilege to support the insights and intellectual curiosities of a younger generation–who will ideally go on to join the professoriate.

Dr. Gibreel Kamara

Associate Professor of English
Location: Armstrong Hall 303-A
Phone: 757-637-2817
E-mail: gibreel.kamara@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: African American Literature, Africana Studies, Diaspora Studies

Dr. Gibreel Kamara
Associate Professor of English
Location:Armstrong Hall303-A
Phone: 757-637-2817
Expertise: African-American Literature, Africana Studies, Diaspora Studies

Gibreel Kamara was born in Sierra Leone, West Africa, but he received his post-secondary education here in the US.

Education:

Holds an Ed.D. in English Education (Applied Linguistics), Temple University; ABD in African-American Studies, Temple University; completed the required course work for the Ph.D. in the Department of English, Temple University; M. A. African-American and English Literature, NCA&T State University; B. A. English, NCA&T State University.

Causes Taught:

Among others, Written Comm. I and II, African Literature, African-American Literature, World Literature, English Literature, American Literature, Rhetorical Theories, Basic Grammar, Advanced grammar, Introduction to the History of the English Language, Literary Criticism, and Humanities.

Research Interest:

-To determine the role of grammar in teaching composition -To determine the role of journal writing in teaching argumentation
-Teaching literature with a view to addressing issues that society faces, such as greed, violence, conflict resolution, inequality, and diversity.

Scholarship:

His scholarship includes:

“The Role of African Literature in African Development and Leadership.” Development Communication and Leadership in Africa, edited by Cosmas Uchenna Nwokeafor

“Regaining Our African Aesthetics and Essence Through Our African Traditional Religion.” Journal of Black Studies 30.4

“The Feminist Struggle in the Senegalese Novel: Mariama Ba and Sembene Ousmane.” Journal of Black Studies 32.2

Dr. Allan Morelos

Assistant Professor of English
Location: Armstrong Hall 237-A
Phone: 757-637-3676
E-mail: allan.morelos@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: Composition, Linguistics

Dr. Allan Morelos
Assistant Professor of English
Location:Armstrong Hall, 237-A
Phone: 757-637-3676
E-mail: allan.morelos@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: African-American Literature, Multi-Ethnic American Literature, Caribbean Literature, Postcolonial Studies
Dr. Allan Morelos has been in the field of education for many years. He has been involved in Pre-K-12, to undergraduate and graduate levels of language education in the Philippines, Thailand and in Virginia, USA. He has taught since then some courses on oral and written communication, linguistics, teaching English to speakers of other languages, business correspondence and research writing.Before joining the HU Department of English and Foreign Languages as a full-time assistant professor, he served as an Upper School (Grade 6-12) Principal in one of Suffolk’s private schools.Dr. Morelos is wholly committed in helping fulfill HU’s mission, “to promote learning, the building of character, and the holistic preparation of students for positions of global leadership and lives of service.”Areas of Expertise:1. Descriptive and Anthropological Linguistics (in English, Cebuano & Thai languages)2. Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages3. Biblical Studies & Literature
4. PreK-12 Educational Leadership

Dr. James Richie

Assistant Professor
Location: Armstrong Hall, 345
E-mail: jamesa.richie@hamptonu.edu

Dr. James Richie
Assistant Professor 
Location: Armstrong Hall, 345
E-mail: jamesa.richie@hamptonu.edu

James Richie received his PhD from Northeastern University in 2013 with a dissertation on the works of Frank Bidart, Jorie Graham, Henri Cole, and Carl Phillips. His areas of specialty include American print culture, Modern and Postmodern writing, archival research, American gothic and horror literature, poetry and poetics, lyric theory, and trash cinema. He is currently writing on Bidart and race and John Ashbery’s late works in the context of the war on terror.

Dr. Hannah Saltmarsh

Assistant Professor
Location: Armstrong Hall 234
Phone: 757-728-6221
E-mail: hannah.saltmarsh@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: Composition, Poetry and Poetics

Dr. Hannah Saltmarsh
Assistant Professor 
Location:Armstrong Hall, 234
Phone: 757-728-6221
E-mail: hannah.saltmarsh@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: Composition, Poetry and PoeticsHannah Baker Saltmarsh is the author of the poetry collection, Hysterical Water (Univ of Georgia Press, 2021) and the critical book, Male Poets and the Agon of the Mother (Univ of South Carolina Press, 2019). She has published essays and poems in The New Republic, American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review, AGNI, Feminist Studies, Women’s Studies Quarterly, and others. She is currently writing about Toni Morrison’s depiction of daughter-artists as well as a book of criticism about second-wave feminisms and motherhood in literature, across genres. Her second book of poetry, in manuscript, “cures for deep wounds,” concerns motherhood, reproductive and environmental justice, and unacknowledged women scientists and midwives. Areas of interest include poetry, Toni Morrison, motherhood, and medical humanities.

 

@HannahSaltmarsh

Dr. Cheikh Sene

Assistant Professor of Spanish
Location: Harvey Library Language Lab, 5th Floor
Phone: 757-637-3621
E-mail: cheikh.sene@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: Francophone and Hispanophone Caribbean Literature, Diaspora Studies, Afro-hispanic Literature

Dr. Cheikh Sene
Assistant Professor of Spanish
Location: Harvey Library Language Lab, 5th Floor
Phone: 757-637-3621

Courses Taught: Translation Studies, Spanish Written Expression, Foreign Languages and Business (Gaston Berger University), Spanish Language and Culture, Introduction to Spanish and Spanish American Literature (Vanderbilt University), Spanish Language and Spanish for Specific Purposes (Ranney School).

Education: Ph.D. in Latin American and Afro Caribbean Literature and Studies, M.A. in Spanish and Spanish American Literature (Vanderbilt University, 2021 and 2017), M.A. in Spanish and Comparative Literature (Universidad de León, 2013), M.A. in Spanish, International Trade, and Translation, B.A in Foreign Applied Languages (Gaston Berger University, 2010 and 2012).

Research and Scholarship: Race, Ethnicity, and Literature in the Caribbean (poetry, religion, and economics in black studies of Latin America), Afro Hispanic Literature (Negrismo and Afrocubanismo in 20th century Caribbean Literature), Négritude in Francophone Caribbean Literature. Poetry and Economics in Transatlantic Black Writing.

Dr. José Luis Suarez Morales

Assistant Professor of Spanish
Location: Armstrong Hall 307-B
Phone: 757-727-5055
E-mail: jose.suarezmorales@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: Latin American Novel

Dr. José Luis Suarez Morales
Assistant Professor of Spanish
Location: Armstrong Hall 307-B
Phone: 757-727-5055
E-mail: jose.suarezmorales@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: Latin American Novel

Ph.D. Hispanic Literatures-Indiana University, 2023

BA Political Science- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2013

My research explores the intersections of Latin American Literature and Cinema and political theory and philosophy, particularly in Mexico, Central America, the Southern Cone, and the United States Borderlands. My book project, Crisis as Form, explores how Neoliberalism and Globalization (and their consequences, such as the rise of non-state violence, technology, and immigration) have challenged modernity’s understanding of politics. My second project, Latin American Anthropo-scenes, examines the transformations of the concept of nature in Latin America, from an essential for nation-building and developing a cultural identity to one in which nature has been reduced to a resource to be exploited and consumed.

https://hamptonu.academia.edu/JoseSu%C3%A1rez

 

Dr. Randolph Walker Jr.

Associate Professor
Location: Armstrong Hall, 406
Phone: 757-637-2106
E-mail: randolph.walker@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: Creative Writing, Law & Literature, Composition

Dr. Randolph Walker Jr.
Assistant Professor
Location: Harvey Library406
Phone: 757-637-2106
Expertise: Creative Writing, Law & Literature, Composition

Randolph (Ran) Walker, Jr. is the author of eighteen books. His short stories, flash fiction, microfiction, and poetry have appeared in a variety of anthologies and journals. Prior to becoming a writer and educator, he worked in magazine publishing and practiced law in Mississippi.

He is the winner of the Indie Author Project’s 2019 National Indie Author of the Year Award (selected by judges from Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, IngramSpark, St. Martin’s Press, and Writer’s Digest), the 2019 Black Caucus of the American Library Association Best Fiction Ebook Award, and the 2018 Virginia Indie Author Project Award for Adult Fiction. He is also the recipient of both a 2005 Mississippi Arts Commission/NEA artist grant and a 2006 artist mini-grant.  He served as an Artist-in-Residence with the Mississippi Arts Commission in 2006.  Additionally, he is a past participant in the Hurston-Wright Writers Week Workshop and is the recipient of a fellowship from the Callaloo Writers Workshop.

His novel Mojo’s Guitar was translated by renowned French translator Philippe Loubat-Delranc and published in April 2015 by Éditions Autrement as Il était une fois Morris Jones. The novel was recently republished in May of 2019 as a part of Éditions Autrement’s “Les Grands Romans” collection. 

His first collection of poetry, Most of My Heroes Don’t Appear On No Stamps: Kwansabas, was published in August of 2019 by The University of Hell Press, based out of Portland, Oregon.

Ran is a graduate of Morehouse College (BA in English), Pace University (MS in Publishing), and George Washington University Law School (JD). He also has a Certificate in Publishing from New York University and has done graduate work in English at Mississippi State University.

Ran is an Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Hampton University and lives in Virginia with his wife and much better half, Lauren, and his amazing little rockstar daughter, Zoë.

Courses Taught:  Introduction to Fiction, Creative Writing Workshop, Law & Literature, Law & Hip Hop, Written Communication I and II 

Research/Scholarship Interests:  African American speculative fiction, flash fiction, microfiction, law and literature, publishing, law and hip hop

Website: http://www.ranwalker.com/

Dr. Melody Williams

Assistant Professor of English
Location: Armstrong Hall 306
Phone: 757-727-5709
E-mail: melody.williams@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: Composition, The Bible as Literature, Religious Literature

Dr. Melody Williams
Assistant Professor of English
Location: Armstrong Hall 306
Phone:757-727-5709 

Dr. Melody Shelton Williams earned her Ph.D. in English from Old Dominion University (ODU) in 2014. She also obtained her M.A. in English from ODU in 2009, and her B.A. in English from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in 2005. In 2021, at age 37, she completed her second doctorate degree, a Doctor of Ministry, from the Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University (VUU).

Dr. Mel has taught collegiately at multiple universities in the Tidewater region of Virginia for the last thirteen years and has also worked as a certified Department of the Army Senior Instructional Developer. In the fall of 2023, she joined the faculty of Hampton University in the English & Foreign Languages Department.

Dr. Mel’s nonprofit, The DREAMS Institute, launched in 2018, and to date has provided spiritual care and professional development resources locally and nationally to underserved students, women of color, and their families. The organization’s programming includes an online bible study forum through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DrMelDREAMS [facebook.com]), a virtual site for booking spiritual care and wellness visits (https://app.crikle.com/meet-with/drmeldreams), and a learning platform set for upcoming release.

Her noted works include:

– two qualitative study dissertations: 1) Death on Display: Understanding the Publicized Eulogies of African American Cultural Figures as an Empowering Rhetorical Discourse (2014); 2) Mentorship with a Womanist Mission: A Model for Online Outreach to African American Women in Early Adulthood through the Faith-Based Nonprofit the DREAMS Institute (2021)

– an article feature in PROPEL Women Magazine (Say No To Over-Extending Yourself – Propel Women [propelwomen.org]),

– self-published books Dream and then Dream BIGGER (https://a.co/d/ereL7mg [a.co])

and Practicing Peace (https://a.co/d/e5DyNE1 [a.co])

Additionally, Dr. Mel’s honors include being awarded as a doctoral fellow from 2009-2014 by ODU, receiving the Black History in the Making Award from her alma mater VCU, features in The Virginia Pilot, and serving as the honored keynote or guest speaker for the following organizations: the Batten Legacy Society, the Chesapeake Bay Wine Classic Foundation, U.S. Customs & Border Protection during the Obama administration, Richmond City Public Schools, Access College Foundation, the Association of Educational Office Professionals, The Black Doctoral Network, The African Society Foundation, and Norfolk State University, to name a few.

Heeding the call of her faith, Dr. Mel’s current ministerial endeavors include serving as Pastor of Assimilation at Grace Change Church in Newport News, VA, and completing 400 hours of supervised ministry for credentialing as a chaplain through Riverside Health System and the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education.

Areas of expertise: African American Literature, Preaching Rhetoric of the Black Church, Womanist Discourse, Technical Writing, and Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Social Media Links:

Instagram: Melody Williams (@englishmajorsgetlit) • Instagram photos and videos [instagram.com]

Twitter: https://x.com/drdrmelodeee?s=21&t=Kq_MilOn8tumB6XzICLvqg [x.com]

Ms. Aline Xavier de Araujo

Instructor
Location: Armstrong Hall 307-A
Phone: 757-727-5339
E-mail: aline.xavierdearaujo@hamptonu.edu
Expertise: Latin American Performance, 21st-century Latin American Literature, task-based language teaching

Ms. Aline Xavier de Araujo

Instructor
Location: Armstrong Hall 307-A
Phone:757-727-5339 

Aline Araujo is a PhD Candidate from the Spanish and Portuguese Program at Indiana University. Her dissertation, titled “From Site-Specific to Immersive Performance: Space and Audience in Experimental Lusophone and Hispanic Theater” investigates how contemporary Latin American performance groups reshape the relationship between performers and audience through the use of space. She has worked as Adjunct Faculty of Spanish for Indiana University Purdue Columbus and currently serves as Instructor of Spanish for Hampton University.

Specialization: Latin American Performance, 21st-century Latin American Literature, task-based language teaching