Faculty

The Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department at Brandeis enjoys a distinctive international reputation as a pioneering program. Our core and associate faculty, drawn from 23 Brandeis departments and programs, includes some of the most renowned women’s, gender, and sexuality studies scholars in their fields.

Together, our faculty have received nearly every major national fellowship — including ACLS, Carnegie, Fulbright, Ford, Guggenheim, MacArthur, NEH, NSF, and Radcliffe awards, have collectively published dozens of important books and scores of articles, have received a significant percentage of the university’s teaching awards, and have held many offices in professional organizations.

Department Faculty

ChaeRan Yoo Freeze

Department Chair/Director of Graduate Studies, Professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Frances and Max Elkon Chair in Modern Jewish History

781-736-2987 cfreeze@brandeis.edu Lown Center for Judaica Studies, 312

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: Jewish History, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Elizabeth Brainerd

Susan and Barton Winokur Professor in Economics, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

781-736-4816 ebrainer@brandeis.edu Lemberg Academic Center, Room 164

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: Labor Economics, Economic Demography, Health Economics, Health and Fertility in Post-Socialist Countries

V Varun Chaudhry

Assistant Professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Interim Chair, Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies, 2021-22

vchaudhry@brandeis.edu Rabb Graduate Center, 109

Office Hours: On-Leave from teaching Fall 2022

Pronouns: he/him/his

Expertise: Nonprofit Organizations and Foundations, Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Communities of Color, Queer of Color Critique

Yuri Doolan

Assistant Professor of History, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Chair of Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies

781-736-2350 yuridoolan@brandeis.edu Olin-Sang American Civilization Center, 216

Office Hours: On-Leave Fall 2022

Pronouns: he/him/his

Expertise: Asian American Studies, Transnational U.S. History, Modern Korea, Women’s History, Gender and Sexuality, Oral History, Critical Mixed Race Studies

Karen V. Hansen

Professor of Sociology, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

781-736-2651 khansen@brandeis.edu Pearlman Hall, 209

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: Sociology of Gender, Class and Race/Ethnicity, Families and Kinship, Historical Sociology, Community Studies

Sarah Lamb

Undergraduate Advising Head

Professor of Anthropology, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

781-736-2211 lamb@brandeis.edu Brown Social Science Center, 208

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: Social-Cultural Theory, Anthropology of Aging, Gender and Sexuality, Person and Self, Medical Anthropology, Immigrant and Transnational communities, Understandings of Modernity, South Asia, South Asian Americans, US Cultural-Historical Practices of Aging

Shoniqua Roach

Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

781-736-8564 shoniquaroach@brandeis.edu Jack, Joseph, & Morton Mandel Center for the Humanities 206

Office Hours: On-Leave 2022-23

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: Black Feminism, Black Sexuality Studies, Performance Theory, African-American Literary and Visual Cultures

Harleen Singh

Associate Professor of Literature, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Director, Women's Studies Research Center

781-736-8485 harleen@brandeis.edu Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for the Humanities, 114

Office Hours: On-Leave Fall 2022

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: Postcolonial Literature and Theory, Colonial Studies, South Asian Novel, Indian Film, Immigrant Literature, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, South Asian Studies

Core Faculty

Gannit Ankori

Henry and Lois Foster Director and Chief Curator, Rose Art Museum

Professor of Fine Arts, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

781-736-7254 gannit@brandeis.edu Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for the Humanities, 312

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: Modern and Contemporary Art and Culture with Emphasis on Gender, Hybridity, Trauma and the Immigrant Experience, Palestinian and Israeli Art, Frida Kahlo

Jill S. Greenlee

Undergraduate Advising Head

Associate Professor of Politics, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

781-736-2760 greenlee@brandeis.edu Olin-Sang American Civilization Center, 205

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: American Politics, Political Behavior, Political Socialization, Public Opinion, Women and Politics, Research Methods

Anita Hill

University Professor of Social Policy, Law, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

781-736-3896 ahill@brandeis.edu Heller-Brown Building, 374

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: Anti-Discrimination Law and Policy (Gender and Race)

Peter R. Kalb

Cynthia L. and Theodore S. Berenson Chair of Fine Arts

Associate Professor of Contemporary Art, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

781-736-2772 pkalb@brandeis.edu Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for the Humanities, 208

Pronouns: he/him/his

Expertise: Modern and Contemporary Art

Ellen Schattschneider

Associate Professor of Anthropology, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

781-736-2219 eschatt@brandeis.edu Brown Social Science Center, 202

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: Religion, Psychoanalytic Theory, Memory and Trauma, Anthropology of the Body, Commodification, East Asia, Japan

Faith L. Smith

Marta F. Kauffman Chair in African and African American Studies

Associate Professor of African and African American Studies, English, and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

781-736-2094 fsmith@brandeis.edu Mandel Center for the Humanities, 217

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: Caribbean Literatures in English, Literary and Sexual Histories of the African Diaspora, Sovereignty and the Postcolonial Imagination

Ilana Szobel

Associate Professor on the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Chair in Hebrew Literature

Associate Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

781-736-5230 szobel@brandeis.edu Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for the Humanities, 313

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: Modern Hebrew Literature, Israel Studies, Feminist Theory, Psychoanalysis, Trauma Studies, Disability Studies, Film Studies

Gowri Vijayakumar

Assistant Professor of Sociology, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

781-736-2633 gowri@brandeis.edu Pearlman Hall 211

Office Hours: On-Leave Fall 2022

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: Gender, Sexuality, Transnational Social Movements, Development, Labor and Labor Movements, Feminist Theory, HIV/AIDS, Ethnographic and Interview Methods, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa

Sabine von Mering

Professor of German, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

781-736-3227 vonmerin@brandeis.edu Shiffman Humanities Center, 209

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: German as a Foreign Language, Climate Change and the Humanities, Fairy Tales, Jewish-German Dialogue, German Women Writers, German Cinema, Age of Goethe, German Drama

Lecturers and Fellows

Deirdre Hunter

Lecturer in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

dhunter@brandeis.edu Rabb Graduate Center, 107

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: Intersection of Feminist, Social Science, and Public Health Theory, Current Practice in Intimate Partner Violence, Sexual Assault, Child Abuse, Animal Abuse, and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Supervising Internships

Keridwen Luis

Director of Graduate Studies

Lecturer in Anthropology, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

781-736-4884 luis@brandeis.edu Rabb Graduate Center, 106

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Expertise: Culture Theory, Women's Studies, Gender Studies, Gender Theory, Nonheternormative Sexualities, Fandom and Fan Identity, Agency and Identity, Medical Anthropology, Anthropology of the Body, Intentional Communities, Consciously Created Culture, Folklore, Magical Practice