In Focus: Faculty Interview Series

Melina Packer Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow in Gender & Sexuality Studies (2020-2022) Faculty Mentor: Jade Sasser Top three texts I would take to a desert island: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, Mating by Norman Rush Favorite Activity: Hiking with my dog Something people might be amazed to know about me: I am deathly afraid of swimming. A ‘famous’ scholar I would love to meet: Michelle Murphy Theme song: “I Want to Break Free” - Queen URL to share: melinapacker.com Q: Your research agenda summed up in one sentence: I [...]

Claudia Holguín Mendoza Department: Hispanic Studies Rank: Assistant Professor # of years at UCR: 2.5 years Top three texts I would take to a desert island: “Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico: Photographs,” “The Tao Te Ching,” and “The Dispossessed” by Ursula Le Guin. Favorite things to do: Hiking and gardening. Something people might be amazed to know about me: I can cook very tasty food. An “adventure” I am looking forward to, post-pandemic… Traveling! Theme songs: Betty Davis as an inspiration. Learn more about Claudia's work at pedagogiascriticas.ucr.edu One of the many photos taken during Claudia's writing retreats/hiking [...]

David Lo Advisory Committee Member, Center for Ideas and Society Department: Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine Rank: Distinguished Professor, and Senior Associate Dean of Research # of years at UCR: 14 Top three texts I would take to a desert island: The Eighth Day of Creation, Horace Freeland Judson. (it’s a history of modern molecular biology); Joy of Cooking, Rombauer, Becker (enough said); A History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell (it’s fun for triggering internal arguments with the book) Favorite thing(s): Anything SciFi/ComicCon, and a well-stocked and equipped kitchen with lots of different spices and condiments! Something people might [...]

Worku Nida Developing African Studies Initiative Participant Department: Anthropology Rank: Assistant Teaching Professor of Anthropology # of years at UCR: This is my 5th year. Top three texts I would take to a desert island: 1) Mediocre, by Ijeoma Oluo, which I am reading now; 2) A Promised Land, by Barack Obama, 3) WE WANT TO DO MORE THAN SURVIVE, by Bettina Love. Favorite activities: Tennis in sport, music (Ethio-jazz, various ethnic music), love museums and open-markets, walking, kitfo (Ethiopian dish) Something people might be amazed to know about me: That I have a multiracial and multicultural family. An [...]

Bella Merlin Advisory Committee Member, Center for Ideas and Society Department: Theatre Film and Digital Production Rank: Professor # of years at UCR: 7 Top three texts I would take to a desert island: The Complete Works of Shakespeare (because I haven't read them all yet); The Toe-Rags by Daphne Anderson (a poignant memoir of growing up in Southern Rhodesia by my husband Miles's mother); The God on the Hill: Temple Poems from Tirupat by the fifteenth-century saint Annamayya (these poems wring my heart every time). Favorite things with favorite beings: Walking with my husband, Miles, and our rescue dog, Dempsey, whom we adopted the day before lockdown in March 2020. [...]

Thomas Cogswell Department: History Rank: Distinguished Professor # of years at UCR: 21 Top three texts I would take to a desert island: Robert Caro's volumes on Lyndon Johnson, Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, and Melvin Bragg's podcast In Our Time. Favorite foods: A toss up. A nice Mysore Masala Dosa or Korean Tofu Hotpot. Something people might be amazed to know about me …. I love exploring cities, one neighborhood at a time. An “adventure” I am looking forward to: Returning to the Hoover Wilderness in the Sierras and the archives. Not simultaneously, of course.  But what if they moved the [...]