In Focus: Faculty Interview Series

Farah Godrej Senior Fellow, Center for Ideas and Society, 2017-2020 Department: Political Science Rank: Associate Professor Years at UCR: 12 Favorite places:  Walking the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena, or strolling the coast along the Pacific Ocean.  Staring at nature, whether in the form of plants, trees, fauna, or water, is a crucially rejuvenating practice. Top three texts I would take to a desert island: * A “wisdom” text:  The Bhagavad-Gita, the self-inquiry manual I turn to again and again. * An “intellectual” text: Karl Marx’s The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, which reminds us what human flourishing really looks [...]

Stephen Sohn Senior Fellow, Center for Ideas and Society, 2017-2020 Mellon Term Professor 2019-2020 Stephen's Stats: Department: English Rank: Professor Years at UCR: 5 years Favorite sport: Tennis Current favorite television show: Killing Eve and The Good Place (tie) Preferred desserts: Anything custard based! The text I cannot do without: Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life Stephen's favorite local dessert, Vanilla Custard Bun from Uncle Chuang's Bakery. Q. Summarize your research in one sentence... I am interested in thinking deeply about literature and culture in all of its myriad forms, so I read a lot. Q. Does your work center on a [...]

Jade Sasser African Studies Workgroup, Co-organizer, Humanities Interdisciplinary Project, 2018-19 Jade's Stats: Department: Gender & Sexuality Studies Rank: Assistant Professor Years at UCR: 5 years Favorite things: Swimming, coffeeshops, and karaoke Non-academic class I would love to teach: "Motown Music for Beginners” Top three most important texts: Feminist Political Ecology (Rocheleau, et al.); Gender and Climate Change (Nagel); and This Changes Everything (Klein). Not light reading, but texts I can’t do without. Q. Summarize your research in one sentence... Environmental issues are social issues, and they impact different groups differently! Q. Is there a key intervention you are trying to [...]

Donatella Galella Performing Difference, Project Lead, Faculty Commons Project, 2018-19 Casting in Color, Project Lead, CIS Conference, 2019 Donatella's Stats: Department: Theatre, Film & Digital Production Rank: Assistant Professor Years at UCR: 4 years Favorite performer: Raúl Esparza Favorite Star Trek Captain: Benjamin Sisko Top three texts to take to a desert island: If we think about texts broadly, then I would choose Sara Ahmed’s The Promise of Happiness, the entire television series Steven Universe, and the Off-Broadway cast recording of The Fortress of Solitude. Q. Summarize your research in one sentence... Figuring out how contemporary American audiences, critics, and producers take [...]

Robb Hernández Arte Público, Project Lead, Humanities Interdisciplinary Project, 2018-19 Robb's Stats: Department: English Rank: Assistant Professor Years at UCR: 7 years Favorite place: Boulder, CO (what can I say, I’m a proud hometown kid!) Favorite film that I encourage students to see: Mona Lisa Smile (Columbia Tristar, 2003) I love the way that Katherine Watson (played by Julia Roberts) is able to use the modern art and radically transform students’ perception of themselves and the world around them in 1953 Wellesley College.  Plus, the film gives an an ordinary Van Gogh paint by numbers the platform it deserves! iPhone or Android: iPhone! [...]

Christina Soto van der Plas Second Project Fellow in Residence, Winter 2019 Christina's Stats: Department: Hispanic Studies Rank: Assistant Professor Years at UCR: 2 years Favorite thing: Sitting on a bench, painting the beautiful and chaotic scenery of the Port of Los Angeles at San Pedro. Top three texts to take to a desert island: ❖ The three volumes of Ricardo Piglia’s diaries which he published under the name of his alter-ego, Los diarios de Emilio Renzi. ❖ The Odyssey, of course, because I would be stranded in an island. ❖ The psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan’s Seminar 20: Encore, a [...]