Who Are We?
Administrative Staff
Catherine Fosl, Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, is founding Director of the Anne Braden Institute. Dr. Fosl was Anne Braden’s biographer and is the author of Subversive Southerner: Anne Braden and the Struggle for Racial Justice in the Cold War South (Palgrave Macmillen, 2002), as well as a new book, Freedom on the Border: An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement in Kentucky (co-authored with Tracy E. K’Meyer, University Press of Kentucky, 2009), and an earlier book, Women for All Seasons: The Story of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (1989). Subversive Southerner won the 2003 Oral History Association Book Award and was named an Outstanding Book in 2003 by the Gustavus Myers Center for Human Rights. A new edition of the book was issued in Fall 2006 by University Press of Kentucky. Through the Institute, Dr. Fosl strives to widen public understanding of Anne Braden’s significance in U.S. social movement history through promoting engaged scholarship grounded in collaboration between researchers and their subjects and producing knowledge that can be acted upon. By providing activists with intellectual tools to enhance their efforts, such knowledge can advance racial and social justice aims. At the same time, the Institute will expose scholars to a greater range of community-based knowledge.
Mariam Williams became program coordinator at the Braden Institute in January 2013. She is a writer, blogger and journalist who believes in the power of words and new and traditional media to spur people to action for social justice. She’s interested in the intersection of race, Christianity, gender and social justice. Mariam received a number of journalism and artist awards for her work in the Courier-Journal and a number of other publications. She started here in 2012 on a part-time/interim basis, working on the civil rights tour brochure, the 2012 lecture and a number of other projects. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and a certificate in screenwriting UCLA.
Co-Founder, the late Dr. J. Blaine Hudson (1949-2013)
J. Blaine Hudson, former Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and professor of Pan-African Studies: creator of the Institute, Dr. Hudson was a visionary educator and longtime university and community leader who was also a renowned scholar of African American history. He was the author of Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderland (2002) and of the Encyclopedia of the Underground Railroad (2006), as well as many articles. He co-authored the book, Two Centuries of Black Louisville: A Photographic History. As a young student activist in the 1960s, Dr. Hudson was mentored by Anne Braden, and they remained friends for nearly 40 years.
The Anne Braden Institute is one of many vehicles through which Dr. Hudson enacted his life-long commitment to connecting history to urban problems and to social change. Another was the Saturday Academy program, a non-credit “open classroom” learning series in African and African American history held in western Louisville. Dr. Hudson pioneered the Saturday Academies in Louisville some years ago and resurrected them in 2005.
Community Advisory Council
Mari Mujica, co-chair
Carla Wallace, co-chair
Keneka L Cheatham
Khalilah Collins
Judi Jennings
David Owen
Mimi Pickering
Faculty Affiliates
Tomarra Adams, assistant professor of Pan-African Studies
David Anderson, associate professor of English
Rhonda Buchanan, director, Latin American and Latino Studies and professor of Spanish
Delinda Buie, professor, curator of rare books, University Libraries*
Nefertiti Burton, associate professor of Theatre Arts and associate A&S dean of Diversity, Outreach & International Programs
Thomas Byers, professor of English
Ying Kit Chan, Professor and Chair Department of Fine Arts
John Cumbler, professor of History
Margaret D’Silva, professor of Communication
Joy Hart, professor of Communication
Lauren Heberle, assistant professor of sociology
Katherine Burger Johnson, associate professor, Archivist for Manuscript Collections, University Archives and Records Center*
Ricky Jones, professor of Pan-African Studies
Tracy K’Meyer, associate professor of History
Avery Kolers, associate professor of Philosophy
Lisa Markowitz, associate professor of Anthropology
David Owen, associate professor of Philosophy
Rodger Payne, professor of Political Science
Theresa Rajack-Talley, associate professor and chair of Pan-African Studies
Susanna Remold, assistant professor of Biology
Siobhan Smith, assistant professor of Communications
Kaila Story, assistant professor of Women’s & Gender Studies and Pan-African Studies; Audre Lorde, Chair in Race, Gender, Class & Sexuality Studies
Nancy Theriot, professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and History
Shelley Thomas, assistant professor in ED-Teach&Learn Midl & Sec Edu*
Russ Vandenbroucke, professor and chair of Theatre Arts
*= ex-officio
Graduate Assistants and Interns (past and present)
Alisha West (2011-present) is currently a Graduate Assistant in the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research and is approaching the end of her scholarship in the Women’s and Gender Studies MA program. She received her undergraduate degree in English from Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA and hopes to work for a non-profit women’s and social justice organization upon graduating with her master’s degree. Alisha is most passionate about ending sexual violence against women.
Rachel Spears (2012-present) is currently a Graduate Assistant in the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research and is a first-year graduate student in the Pan-African Studies department. Rachel received her B.S. in Communication from Missouri State University. She’s excited to become a part of the Anne Braden Institute and hopes that her work is an asset to both the University of Louisville and the surrounding community. She believes in Nelson Mandela’s quote, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Tytianna Smith (2011-2012), M.A., Pan-African Studies, University of Louisville
Jenny Stith (2011-2012) M.A., Women and Gender Studies, University of Louisville, clinical certificate in Analytical Psychology, C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago
Tamara Spiller (2010- 2011), M.A., Pan-African Studies, University of Louisville
Tiffany Caesar (2008-2010), M.A., Pan-African Studies, University of Louisville
Jennifer Oladipo (2009-2010) M.A., Pan-African Studies, University of Louisville
Natashia Lindsey (2008-2009) M.A., Pan-African Studies, University of Louisville
K.A. Owens(Intern, Spring 2007) M.A., Humanities/Civic Leadership, University of Louisville
Angela Calloway (2006-2007) PhD, Nursing, and M.A., Pan-African Studies, University of Louisville
Jardana Peacock (2006-2008) M.A., Pan African Studies, University of Louisville
Amber Duke (2007-2009) M.A., Pan African Studies, University of Louisville
Undergraduate Interns (past and present)
Amina Ahmed (2010- present, class of 2014) is a graduate from Central High school and is currently a junior pursuing a degree in history with a minor in African Studies. She works at the Braden Institute as a part of the work study program.
Katy Campell (2012-present) is a graduate of the Academy for Individual Excellence and a freshman at UofL. She plans to major in Music Therapy. Katy is excited about her work study assignment at the ABI because social justice and peace are important to her. She came to us after researching an award-winning history project on Anne Braden in high school.
Raven Darko-Mensah
(2010-2011)
Carissa House-Dunphy (2009-2012)
Jenna Williams (2009-2010)
Toma Lynn Smith (2008-2009)
Posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 8:51 pm
