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
2024-2025 EEJI Faculty Fellows

Tivia Collins
Assistant Professor, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Claire Crawford
Assistant Professor, Department of Politics and International Affairs and the Program in African American Studies

Crystal Dixon
Associate Professor of the Practice, Health and Exercise Science

Daniel Henry
Assistant Teaching Professor, The Program in African American Studies and The Program for Leadership and Character

Rowena Kirby-Straker
Assistant Professor, Department of Communication

Khaliah Reed
Assistant Professor, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Eshe Sherley
Assistant Professor, Program in African American Studies

Leslie Stracker
Assistant Teaching Professor, Environment and Sustainability Studies Program

Kyana Young
Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering
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

Tivia Collins
Assistant Professor, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

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

Claire Crawford
Assistant Professor, Department of Politics and International Affairs and the Program in African American Studies

Crystal Dixon
Associate Professor of the Practice, 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

Daniel Henry
Assistant Teaching Professor, The Program in African American Studies and The Program for Leadership and Character

Rowena Kirby-Straker
Assistant Professor, Department 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

Khaliah Reed
Assistant Professor, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

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

Eshe Sherley
Assistant Professor, Program in African American Studies

Christina Soriano
Vice Provost of the Arts and Interdisciplinary Initiatives

Eric Stottlemyer
Associate Dean for the Engaged Liberal Arts, Associate Teaching Professor

Leslie Stracker
Assistant Teaching Professor, Environment and Sustainability Studies Program

Julie Velásquez Runk
Director and Professor of Environment and Sustainability Studies

Ivan Weiss
Assistant Professor of the Practice of Journalism

Kyana Young
Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering

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.