Author: walt

Louis L. Redding Chair for the Study of Law and Public Policy, School of Public Policy and Administration

Faculty Scholar, Center for the Study of Diversity

University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716

lware@udel.edu

Biography

Professor Leland Ware has been the Louis L. Redding Chair for the Study of Law and Public Policy at the University of Delaware since 2000. Before his present appointment, he was a professor at St. Louis University School of Law from 1987 to 2000. He was a visiting professor at Boston College Law School in 1992 and at the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, in 1997. Professor Ware was University Counsel at Howard University from 1984 to 1987. For the five years prior to his position at Howard, he was a Trial Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, in Washington, D.C. He had previously practiced with a private firm in Atlanta, Georgia, and with the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Professor Ware’s research focuses on various aspects of Civil Rights law. He has authored more than 100 publications consisting of academic journal articles, book chapters, essays, book reviews, editorials and other publications in academic journals and other publications. Professor Ware has organized a number of academic symposia, professional programs and hosted many distinguished lectures. Professor Ware is a co-author, with Robert Cottrol and Raymond Diamond, of Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture and the Constitution (2003). He is the editor of Choosing Equality: Essays and Narratives on the Desegregation Experience (co-edited with Robert L. Hayman with a Foreword by Vice President Joe Biden) Penn State Press (2009). He has lectured and made other presentations to numerous audiences in the United States and Europe. Professor Ware is a graduate of Fisk University and Boston College Law School.

Director, Energy and Environmental Policy Program

Faculty Scholar, Center for the Study of Diversity

Professor, Physics and Astronomy, Materials Science and Engineering

University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716

ismat@udel.edu

Biography

Professor Ismat Shah received his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urban Champaign in Materials Science and Engineering in 1987.  After his post-doc at the same University, he worked for the DuPont Company as a senior scientist for 12 years. Professor Shah joined the University of Delaware in 1999 where he currently holds joint appointment in the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Physic and Astronomy. He is also the Director of Energy and Environment Policy Program. His research focuses on designing new materials for water, energy and the environment. He has published more than 215 papers in these areas and has 6 related patents. Professor Shah was a Fulbright Fellow in 2012.

Associate Professor, Africana Studies

Faculty Scholar, Center for the Study of Diversity

University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716

ypayne@udel.edu

Biography

Yasser A. Payne is an associate professor in the Department of Africana Studies at the University of Delaware. His street ethnographic research program is centered on exploring notions of resiliency with the streets of Black America using an unconventional methodological framework entitled Participatory Action Research–the process of involving members of the population of interest on the actual research team.

His approach to diversity is centered on exploring or examining the variation of psychological identity as it relates to Black and Brown populations involved with the criminal justice system. In most instances, such populations are framed in a monolithic way and Dr. Payne through his research has found great emotional, psychological and developmental variation. Also, he aims to break down or through stereotypical barriers and images of Black and Brown people in the criminal justice system, so that transition back in the community and opportunities for upward mobility are successful. Dr. Payne’s work is centered on humanizing those in the criminal justice system and getting undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty and/or everday residents to work more closely with those in the criminal justice system.

Professor of Theatre

Faculty Scholar, Center for the Study of Diversity

University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716

overbyl@udel.edu

Biography

Lynnette Young Overby (Ph.D., University of Maryland) is Professor of Theatre. She has served as Equity Administrator for the University of Maryland College of Health and Human Development where she spearheaded efforts to recruit and retain minority students and faculty. Before coming to the University of Delaware, she served as the College of Arts and Letters Associate Dean of Outreach, Engagement and Inclusivity at Michigan State University. Currently, she serves as Faculty Director of Undergraduate Research and Experiential Learning and a Professor of Theatre and Dance. Her publications have appeared in The Journal of Mental Imagery, The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, Cognition, Imagination and Personality, and the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science. With co-authors, Beth Post and Diane Newman, Overby published the book, Interdisciplinary Learning through Dance: 101 Moventures. She serves as co-editor of seven volumes of Dance: Current Selected Research.

Assistant Professor, Political Science and International Relations

Faculty Scholar, Center for the Study of Diversity

University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716

oskooiik@udel.edu

Biography

Dr. Kassra Oskooii is an assistant professor at the Department of Political Science & International Relations. He received his PhD from the University of Washington in 2016.

His primary research focuses on understanding the impact of discrimination on the sociopolitical attitudes and behaviors of marginalized populations in democratic societies. In addition to his primary research agenda, Dr. Oskooii is also engaged in a variety of research projects related to examining the role of race, ethnicity, and religion in politics. Some examples of his work include: public opinion toward Muslim-Americans, the role of religiosity and mosque attendance on the political engagement of Muslims in the West, the impact of racial bias on support levels toward race-based policies, and the effect of redistricting and changes to voter registration or practices on minority electoral influence.

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations

Faculty Scholar, Center for the Study of Diversity

University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716

jkubota@psych.udel.edu

Biography

Jennifer Kubota is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Political Science and International Relations. Prior to joining the faculty at University of Delaware she was an Assistant Professor at University of Chicago. She received a joint PhD in Social Psychology and Neuroscience from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 2010. She then held a postdoctoral fellowship in social neuroscience at New York University, during which time she worked on projects relating to the neural foundations of prejudice and prejudice reduction. Her work has been published in various neuroscience and psychology journals, including Nature Neuroscience, Psychological Science, Perspectives in Psychological Science, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Biological Psychology, and Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience. She has received funding from the Ford Foundation, National Institute on Aging, and the National Science Foundation in support of her research.

Associate Professor, English

Faculty Scholar, Center for the Study of Diversity

University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716

kersch@udel.edu

Biography

Stephanie L. Kerschbaum (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) is an Associate Professor of English focusing on rhetoric and writing studies. Her research examines rhetorics of diversity in higher education and how people negotiate differences in classroom settings. She is currently working on a book that examines a first-year writing classroom for how students orient to differences between themselves and their classmates during writing workshops. Her publications have appeared in College Composition and Communication and in the edited volume Narrative Discourse Analysis for Teacher Educators: Managing Cultural Difference in Classrooms (Hampton, 2011).

Assistant Professor, Psychology

Faculty Scholar, Center for the Study of Diversity

University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716

cforbes@psych.udel.edu

Biography

Chad Forbes (Ph.D., University of Arizona) is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Delaware. With a background spanning from molecular biology to complex social processes, Dr. Forbes utilizes behavioral methodologies as well as electroencephalography (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), lesion studies and genetic approaches to investigate social phenomena. Specifically, he examines how priming negative stereotypes affects our perceptions as well as stigmatized individuals in our society, e.g. minorities and women, to ironically engender situations that inadvertently reinforce the stereotype. Dr. Forbes is currently developing a model that outlines how and why minorities and women are more likely to leave academics and STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) fields respectively, as well as how these phenomena can be reversed. He has numerous publications on these topics in a wide array of journals, including Annual Reviews of Neuroscience, Cerebral Cortex and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.