Faculty

The Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department 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
ChaeRan Yoo Freeze
Chair
Frances and Max Elkon Chair in Modern Jewish History
781-736-2987 Lown Center for Judaica Studies, 312
Pronouns: she/her

Expertise: Jewish history, women's, gender and sexuality studies

Head Shot of V Varun Chaudhry
V Varun Chaudhry
Assistant Professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Rabb Graduate Center, 109
Office Hours: On-Leave Spring 2024
Pronouns: he/him

Expertise: Nonprofit organizations and foundations, transgender and gender nonconforming communities of color, queer of color critique

Yuri Doolan
Yuri Doolan
Undergraduate Advising Head
Assistant Professor of History, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies; Chair, Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies Program
781-736-2350 Olin-Sang American Civilization Center, 216
Pronouns: he/him

Expertise: Asian American studies, transnational U.S. history, modern Korea, women’s history, gender and sexuality, oral history, critical mixed race studies

Sarah Lamb
Sarah Lamb
Professor of Anthropology, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
781-736-2211 Brown Social Science Center, 208
Pronouns: she/her

Expertise: Social-cultural theory, anthropology of aging, gender and sexuality, person and self, medical anthropology, immigrant and transnational communities, understandings of mModernity, South Asia, South Asian Americans, U.S. cultural-historical practices of aging

Head shot of Shoniqua Roach
Shoniqua Roach
Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
781-736-8564 Jack, Joseph, & Morton Mandel Center for the Humanities 206
Pronouns: she/her

Expertise: Black feminism, Black sexuality studies, performance theory, African American literary and visual cultures

Harleen Singh
Harleen Singh
Associate Professor of Literature, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Director, Women's Studies Research Center
781-736-8485 Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for the Humanities, 114
Pronouns: she/her

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

Head shot of Gannit Ankori
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 Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for the Humanities, 312
Pronouns: she/her

Expertise: Modern and contemporary art and culture with emphasis on gender, hybridity, trauma and the immigrant experience, Palestinian and Israeli art, Frida Kahlo

Emilie Diouf
Emilie Diouf
Assistant Professor of English
781-736-2161 Rabb 230

Expertise: Anglophone and Francophone African literature, Caribbean literature, critical theory, film/media, gender and aexuality atudies, postcolonial theory and literature

Jill S. Greenlee
Jill S. Greenlee
Associate Professor of Politics, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
781-736-2760 Olin-Sang American Civilization Center, 205
Office Hours: On-leave 2023-24
Pronouns: she/her

Expertise: American politics, political behavior, political socialization, public opinion, women and politics, research methods

Karen V. Hansen
Karen V. Hansen
Professor of Sociology, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
On Sabbatical 2023-2024
781-736-2651 Pearlman Hall, 209
Pronouns: she/her

Expertise: Sociology of gender, class and race/ethnicity, families and kinship, historical sociology, community studies

Anita Hill
Anita Hill
University Professor of Social Policy, Law, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
781-736-3896 Heller-Brown Building, 374
Pronouns: she/her

Expertise: Anti-discrimination law and policy (gender and race)

Peter R. Kalb
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 Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for the Humanities, 208
Pronouns: he/him

Expertise: Modern and contemporary art

Photograph of Dorothy Kim
Dorothy Kim
Assistant Professor of English, and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Pronouns: she/her

Research Interests: Race, gender, digital humanities, medieval women's literary cultures.

Ellen Schattschneider
Ellen Schattschneider
Associate Professor of Anthropology, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
781-736-2219 Brown Social Science Center, 202
Pronouns: she/her

Expertise: Religion, psychoanalytic theory, memory and trauma, anthropology of the body, commodification, East Asia, Japan

Faith Smith
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 Mandel Center for the Humanities, 217
Pronouns: she/her

Expertise: Caribbean literatures in English, literary and sexual histories of the African diaspora, aovereignty and the postcolonial imagination

Ilana Szobel
Ilana Szobel
Professor on the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Chair in Hebrew Literature
Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
781-736-5230 Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for the Humanities, 313
Office Hours: On-Leave 2023-2024
Pronouns: she/her

Expertise: Modern Hebrew literature, Israel studies, feminist theory, psychoanalysis, trauma studies, disability studies, film studies

Gowri Vijayakumar
Gowri Vijayakumar
Assistant Professor of Sociology, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
781-736-2633 Pearlman Hall 211
Office Hours: On-Leave Spring 2024
Pronouns: she/her

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
Sabine von Mering
Director of Graduate Studies
Professor of German, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
781-736-3227 Shiffman Humanities Center, 209
Pronouns: she/her

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
Deirdre Hunter
Lecturer in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
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
Keridwen Luis
Lecturer in Anthropology, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
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

Evangelina Macias Headshot
Evangelina Macias
Helaine B. Allen and Cynthia L. Berenson Distinguished Visiting Professorship
WSRC Faculty Affiliate
Pronouns: she/her/hers

Aamskapipikuni Blackfeet, A'aninin Gros Ventre

Research focus: Dance studies, Native American and Indigenous dance, gender and sexuality

Headshot of Carmel Ohman
Carmel Ohman
Mellon Fellow
WSRC, Room 126
Pronouns: she/her/they

Expertise: African American literature and visual culture, Black feminist theories, sexuality studies

Anya Wallace
Florence Levy Kay Fellow in Black Feminist Studies
Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and African and African-American Studies

Expertise: Art theory, Black girlhood study, critical art writing, pleasure and sexual politics  

Faculty Emeritae

Head shot of Pamela Allara
Pamela Allara
Associate Professor Emerita of Contemporary Art
Headshot of Joyce Antler
Joyce Antler
Samuel J. Lane Professor Emerita of American Jewish History and Culture
Professor Emerita of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Silvia Arrom
Professor Emerita of History
Bernadette Brooten
Bernadette Brooten
Professor Emerita of Christian Studies
Professor Emerita of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Head shot of Dian Fox
Dian Fox
Professor Emerita of Hispanic Studies, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Head shot of Janet Giele
Janet Giele
Professor Emerita of Sociology, Social Policy and Women's Studies
Head shot of Erica Harth
Erica Harth
Professor Emerita of Humanities
Head shot of Susan Lanser
Susan Lanser
Professor Emerita of English; Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies; and Comparative Literature
Pronouns: she/her/hers

“The Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies program at Brandeis has provided me with an enriching group of colleagues whose scholarship inspires me. My work is interdisciplinary at its core and WGS has been my academic home. This is a set of colleagues, students and staff who believe in the value of laughter, food and a welcoming environment for all.”

Professor Harleen Singh