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
2026 Summer Institute Faculty and Fellows
Andrea King Collier
Journalist and Author
Dr. Yanick Rice Lamb
Professor, Howard University School of Communications
Justin Worland
Senior Correspondent, TIME
Jaha Nailah Avery
Journalist and Author
Nichole Currie
Audio Producer and Journalist, The Pulse
Kani'ya Davis
Journalism and Mass Communications Student, North Carolina A & T University
Aissa Dearing
Doctoral Candidate, The University of Oxford
Nina B. Elkadi
Journalist and Writer, Corn Belt Confidential
Britney Hamilton
Meteorologist, Spectrum News
Ashley Miznazi
Multimedia Climate Reporter, The Miami Herald
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
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.