Faculty and Staff

Tyler Fleming

Dr. Fleming photo

Associate Professor

Education: University of Texas at Austin

Research Interests: history of Africa and the African Diaspora, black South African popular cultures (mainly music, sport, literature and theatre) during the twentieth century.  

Contact Information:
442 Strickler Hall (4th floor East Wing)
Department of Pan-African Studies
(502) 852-3658

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Ricky L. Jones

Dr. Jones photo

Professor, Pan-African Studies Department, Baldwin-King Scholar-in-Residence, Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute

Education: Political Science, University of Kentucky

Research Interests: African American Politics and Leadership; Political Theory; African American Nationalism; Violence and Resistance; the African American Male

Contact Information:
430 Strickler Hall (4th floor, East Wing)
Department of Pan-African Studies
(502) 852-6455

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www.rickyljones.com

Yvonne Jones

Associate Professor

Education: Anthropology, American University, Washington, DC

Research Interests: Race and Culture; history and theory; African American Entrepreneurship; African Diaspora in the Caribbean and Latin America; African American cultural traditions

Contact Information:
430 Strickler Hall (4th floor, East Wing)
Department of Pan-African Studies
(502) 852- 2428

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Shirletta Kinchen

DR. SHlRLETTA KINCHEN

Director of Undergraduate Studies

Education: History, University of Memphis

Research Interests: African American history, with particular focus on the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement, and 20th Century US History. Specifically her dissertation, "We want what people generally refer to as Black Power": Youth and Student Activism and the impact of the Black Power Movement in Memphis, Tennessee, 1965-1975 and continuing research examines the impact, influence, and intersection of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements on youth and student activism in Memphis, Tennessee.

Contact Information:
439 Strickler Hall (4th floor, East Wing)
Department of Pan-African Studies
(502) 852-6057

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Mawuena Kossi Logan

Mawuena Kossi Logan

Associate Professor

Education: African-American World Studies/English, University of Iowa (IA)

Dr. Mawuena Logan received his MA in African American World Studies and Ph.D. in English (with concentration in African and African Diaspora literatures) from the University of Iowa (IA). Prior to joining the Department of Pan-African Studies, University of Louisville, Dr. Logan has taught at Beloit College (WI), Ohio University (OH), the University of Botswana (Botswana), and the University of the West Indies, Mona (Jamaica). 

Teaching Areas: Postcolonial/African Literature and Theory; African American Literature; Twentieth-Century Literary Theory; Pan-African Literature; Race, Ethnicity, and Identity; Literatures of Africa and the African Diaspora (African, African American, Afro-Caribbean)

Research Interests: African/African Diaspora literatures and cultures; Postcolonial literature and theory; Victorian/'Empire' literature; Cosmopolitan identities in Africa and the African Diaspora; Post-Apartheid literature.

Contact Information:
429 Strickler Hall (4th Floor, East Wing)
Department of Pan-African Studies
(502) 852-5409

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Wendy Martin

Wendy Martin

Unit Business Manager

Contact Information:
445 Strickler Hall (East Wing 4th Floor)
Department of Pan African Studies
Phone: (502) 852-6455,
Fax: (502) 852-5954

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Michael Brandon McCormack

Dr. M. BRANDON MCCORMACK

Chair and Associate Professor

Secondary Appointment: Department of Comparative Humanities (Religious Studies)

Education: Vanderbilt University, Graduate Department of Religion

Research Interests: intersections of Black Religion and Cultural Studies; contested relationships between the prophetic tradition in black religion, black moral panic, and the cultural productions of the hip-hop generation; African American Religion and Religions of the African Diaspora.

Contact Information:
446 Strickler Hall (4th floor East Wing)
Department of Pan-African Studies
(502) 852-5505

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Shelby Pumphrey

Assistant Professor

As an interdisciplinary scholar of Africana Studies, Women's Studies and History, Dr. Pumphrey's work focuses primarily on questions of race, gender and mental illness, but especially on Africana peoples' experiences with institutional mental healthcare in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She earned a dual PhD in African American and African Studies (AAAS) and History from Michigan State University. Her current project focuses on the nation's first mental hospital established exclusively for the care of African Americans, Central Lunatic Asylum for the Colored Insane, with particular emphasis on Africana women and involuntary commitment during the final decades of the nineteenth century. 

Kaila Story

Dr. Story

Associate Professor,
Department of Pan-African Studies and Department of Women's & Gender Studies

Education: Ph.D. in African American Studies and Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies, Temple University, 2007.

Research Interests: Dr. Story’s research examines the intersections of race and sexuality, with special attention to black feminism, black lesbians, and black queer identity. Her recent work La-La’s Fundamental Rupture: True Blood’s Lafayette and the Deconstruction of Normal in the anthology, African Americans on Television: Race-ing for Ratingsexplores the contested persona of the character "Lafayette", and problematizes mediated messaging around Black, Gay, and Male embodiment and identity. Dr. Story’s current work explores the intersections of Black Queer Studies and Pan African Studies; also Feminist theory’s relationship to queer theory.

Contact Information:
448 Strickler Hall

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W.S. Tkweme

Dr. Tkweme

Assistant Professor, Graduate Director

Education: African American Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Research Interests: African American History, Music and Culture

Contact Information:
428 Strickler Hall (4th floor, East Wing)
Department of Pan-African Studies
(502) 852-5386

Email W.S. Tkweme