People

Principal Investigator

Corey D. B. Walker

Dean, School of Divinity, Wake Forest Professor of the Humanities, Director, Program in African American Studies

Project Coordinator

Melba Newsome

Project Coordinator and adjunct faculty in the Journalism Program

2024 Summer Institute Faculty and Fellows

Andrea King Collier

Journalist and Author

Jessica De La Torre

Creative Coordinator, Thematic Campaigns

Celeste Gracia

Environment Reporter, WUNC 91.5

Iris M. Crawford

Communications Advisor, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Danny McArthur

Environmental Justice Reporter, Gulf States Newsroom

Dalila-Johari Paul

National Editor, Capital B

Helina Selemon

Science Investigative Reporter, The Blacklight

Cornell Watson

Photojournalist, Cornell Watson Photography

Justin Worland

Senior Correspondent, Time

Collaborating Faculty

Wake Forest University faculty with research and teaching interests in environmental justice.

Shanna Greene Benjamin

Professor, Program in African American Studies

Saylor Breckenridge

Associate Professor of Sociology

Callie Lambert Brown

Associate Professor, Pediatrics – General

Justin Catanoso

Professor of the Practice of Journalism

Jill Crainshaw

Vice Dean and Professor of Worship and Liturgical Theology, School of Divinity

Crystal Dixon

Associate Professor of the Practice of Health and Exercise Science

Francisco Gallegos

Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Melanie Harris

Professor of Black Feminist Thought and Womanist Theology; Director of the Food, Health and Ecological Well-Being Program, School of Divinity

Rowena Kirby-Straker

Assistant Professor of Communication

John Knox

Henry C. Lauerman Professor of International Law, School of Law

Judith Madera

Associate Professor of English

Stan Meiburg

Executive Director, Center for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability

Monique O’Connell

Professor of History and James P. Barefield Endowed Faculty Fellowship

David Phillips

Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities

Scott Schang

Professor of the Practice of Environmental Law; Director, Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, School of Law

Christina Soriano

Vice Provost of the Arts and Interdisciplinary Initiatives

Eric Stottlemyer

Associate Dean for the Engaged Liberal Arts, Associate Teaching Professor

Julie Velásquez Runk

Director and Professor of Environment and Sustainability Studies

Ivan Weiss

Assistant Professor of the Practice of Journalism

Phoebe Zerwick

Professor of the Practice of Journalism, Director of Journalism Program

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Shaila Prasad

EEJI Undergraduate Research Assistant

Shaila Prasad is a junior from New Delhi who currently lives in South Florida. She is an Economics major and a Journalism and Psychology minor. She is very involved in the Old Gold & Black (OGB), Wake Forest’s student-run newspaper, serving as Deputy Editor for the 2024 calendar year. She has found her passion for journalism within the past two years and has been expanding her skills through her minor, hands-on experience and reading as much as she can. When not in the Old Gold & Black office, Shaila enjoys spending time outdoors and finding the best Italian restaurant in town.

Beza Zelalem

EEJI Undergraduate Research Assistant

Beza Zelalem is a second-year, pre-law student with an intended major in African American Studies and a double minor in Environmental Studies and Journalism. Beza writes for the environment section of the Old Gold & Black, serves as the outreach coordinator for Wayward Fashion, and is a member of Wake Forest University’s Sustainability Leadership Group ’26.