Faculty and Staff

Faculty

Tamara Bhalla Tamara Bhalla
Associate Professor and Chair
Ph.D. (English Language and Literature), University of Michigan
Bio »
Office:
Fine Arts 545-D
410-455-3254
tbhalla@umbc.edu
Teaching Areas: Asian American literary and cultural studies; South Asian American cultural studies; readership and social practices of reading; post-1965 multiethnic literatures
Research Interests: South Asian American cultural studies; Reader and reception studies; book clubs and social forms of reading
Iris Blake Iris Blake
Assistant Teaching Professor 
Ph.D. (Ethnic Studies), University of California, Riverside
Bio »
Office:
Fine Arts 541
iblake3@umbc.edu
Teaching Areas: critical ethnic studies, cultural studies, memory studies, gender & sexuality studies
Research Interests: sound studies, critical ethnic studies, queer and feminist disability studies, performance studies, cultural production
Michael Casiano
Assistant Professor 
Ph.D. (American Studies), University of Maryland, College Park
Bio »
Office:
Fine Arts 546
410-455-6570
mc12@umbc.edu
Teaching Areas:  twentieth-century urban history, Baltimore history, cultural studies, African-American history, public humanities, engaged scholarship
Research Interests: carceral studies, urban history, black studies, gender & sexuality studies, critical race & ethnic studies
Sarah Fouts
Associate Professor 
Ph.D. (Latin American Studies), Tulane University
Bio »
Office:
Fine Arts 545-C
410-455-1451
sfouts@umbc.edu
Teaching Areas: labor, migration, transnationalism, food studies, ethnography
Research Interests: food studies, labor studies, New Orleans, Honduras, ethnography, disasters, quilting, and community engagement
Nicole King
Professor 
Ph.D. (American Studies), University of Maryland, College Park
Bio »
Office:
Fine Arts 542
410-455-1457
nking@umbc.edu
Teaching Areas: cultural studies, public history, urban studies (Baltimore)
Research Interests: place and identity, economic development, travel and tourism, urban studies (especially Baltimore)

Adjunct Faculty

Andrew DeVos
Instructor
Contact:
adevos1@umbc.edu
Michael Hummel
Instructor
Contact:
hummel1@umbc.edu
Christina Sessoms
Instructor
Contact:
csessom1@umbc.edu
Zareen Taj
Instructor
Contact:
ztaj@umbc.edu

Emeritus and Retired Faculty

Warren Belasco
Professor Emeritus
Ph.D. (History), University of Michigan
Bio »
Teaching Areas: popular and material culture, cultural history, environmental studies
Research Interests: food, future studies, cultural history
Kathy Scales Bryan
Ph.D. (American Studies), University of Maryland, College Park
Bio »
Teaching Areas: education and cultural transmission, childhood and family, cultural and intellectual history
Research Interests: education history and policy, curriculum transformation, gender equity in education, cultural conflict and transformation, literature and society
Patrice McDermott
Professor Emeritus
Ph.D. (American Studies), University of Maryland, College Park
Teaching Areas: 20th – 21st century cultural history, multicultural and cross-cultural studies, gender studies, identity theory, culture theory
Research Interests: discourse analysis, mass media and publishing, sociology of knowledge, contemporary social movements

Staff

Morgan Dowty
Program Management Specialist
Office:
Fine Arts 545-A
410-455-2106
morgando@umbc.edu