Ten scholars from an array of disciplines were recruited by the university to join Columbian College’s roster of permanent full-time faculty members this year. They include noted historians, authors, scientists and practitioners in numerous fields.
Clement Akpang (Art History Program) holds a PhD in art and art theory/history from the University of Bedfordshire in Luton, U.K. Prior to coming to GW, he was a Junior Core Research Fellow for the Institute for Advanced Studies at the Central European University in Hungary. He studies African art, with recent research focused on the decolonization of European museums and de-westernization of African art scholarship. He is the author of the books Analysing Art: A Short Guide to Art Appreciation, Criticism and Research in Visual Arts (University of Calabar Press, Nigeria; Guildford Street Press, U.K., 2020) and Nigerian Modernism 1900-1965: Anti-Europeanisation, Nationalism and Avant-garde Art (University of Calabar Press, 2019).
Douglas López Arteaga (Department of Romance, German and Slavic Studies) holds MA degrees in teaching Spanish (North Arizona University) and higher education administration (Rafael María Baralt University). He is a Spanish language instructor and curriculum designer with 13 years of professional experience at the college level. Prior to coming to GW, he was an associate instructor of Spanish at the University of Utah and a Spanish instructor at Salt Lake Community College. He has twice served as a Fulbright scholar to Venezuela as well as a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant at Salve Regina University and a Hubert Humphrey Fellow at Penn State University.
Jessica (Ya-Chih) Cheng (Department of Forensic Sciences) received a PhD in forensic science from Sam Houston State University and an MS in toxicology from National Taiwan University. Prior to coming to GW, she worked as a postdoctoral teaching fellow at Sam Houston State where she led online courses in forensic science, ethics and professional practice. She is a three-time winner of the Forensic Sciences Foundation’s Emerging Forensic Scientist Award. Her research has been published in peer review journals including Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology and the International Journal of Legal Medicine.
Tatiana Efremova (Department of Romance, German and Slavic Studies) earned a PhD in comparative literature with an emphasis in Slavic studies from New York University. She was a postdoctoral scholar and a Mellon Teaching Fellow at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, researching the relationship between cultural memory and embodiment in post-Soviet film, television, fashion and performance art. Her other research interests include gender theory, history of global feminism and social media and cultural consumption.
Lisa Ford (Department of History) is a graduate from Columbia University, a legal historian and a prize-winning author. Her expertise includes 18th and 19th century legal history of the British Empire and the early United States, with a particular focus on local governance, law reform and the constitution; legal encounters between First Nations people and settlers; and emergency law and peacekeeping. Before coming to GW, she was a professor of history at the University of South Wales. Her Harvard Press-published books include Rage for Order: The British Empire and the Origins of International Law, 1800-1850 (2016) and The King’s Peace: Law and Order in the British Empire (2021).
Eli Kintisch (School of Media and Public Affairs) was formerly a segment producer at Scripps News and a youth media producer for the PBS NewsHour. As a freelance video producer, his projects included the PBS documentary After the Ice on vanishing sea ice in Alaska. He is the author of the book Hack the Planet (2010) and his writing on climate science and the environment has appeared in publications such as National Geographic and The Washington Post. His honors include the Edward R. Murrow Award, the National Educational Telecommunications Association Public Media Awards and the Knight MIT Science Journalism Fellowship. His Science article “Into the Maelstrom” was selected for the 2015 edition of The Best American Science and Nature Writing.
Sushovan Majhi (Data Science Program) holds a PhD in mathematics from Tulane University. He was a postdoctoral research fellow and data science instructor at the University of California, Berkeley. His research revolves around the interface of computer science, mathematics and the mathematical foundations of data science. His studies apply techniques for data science to real-world problems in fields such as biology, medicine, genetics and finance. He has published his research in major academic journals including Computational Geometry: Theory and Applications and the Journal of Applied and Computational Topology.
Nidhi Singh Rathor (Interaction and Graphic Design) holds an MFA in design ethnography and computer technology from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, Calif. She is a design practitioner, researcher and educator with 10 years of experience in visual communication, systems thinking, UX design and research. She led civic design for the Montgomery County Government (MD) and formerly worked for the Los Angeles Innovation Team. She has collaborated with the Stanford Impact Labs, exploring design’s role in addressing societal challenges like housing insecurity and with Cedars-Sinai Cancer Research Center in health equity programs.
Akae Wright (Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program) holds a PhD in feminist studies from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Prior to coming to GW, Wright was a Black Feminist Thought Postdoctoral Fellow at Northeastern University in Africana Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and an adjunct professor at Minneapolis College. Their work has appeared in publications such as QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking and Abolition: A Journal of Insurgent Politics. Wright’s upcoming book project, Embodied Abolition: Healing Justice, Black Feminism and Ending Carcerality, investigates how Black individuals communally and intimately live, resist and care amid carceral forces.
Oksana Yakushko (Professional Psychology Program) earned her PhD from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and certified psychoanalyst and held adjunct faculty positions at University of California, Santa Barbara, and the California Institute for Integral Studies. Her academic interests revolve around immigration, the history of psychology, contemporary psychoanalysis, intergenerational dynamics and trauma. She has received numerous awards including the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Jean Lou-Chin International Scholar Award; the APA Distinguished Scholar Award in Psychoanalytic Psychology; and the APA Leadership Award for Women in Psychology. She is the author of more than 80 peer-reviewed publications. Her books include the forthcoming Psychology under Conditions of War in Ukraine (Routledge).