ANTHROPOLOGY
Laura Mentore, Associate Professor of Anthropology, received her Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge. Her primary areas of specialization include environmental anthropology, critical theories of development, indigenous cosmologies and social movements. Her research is based in Lowland South America (Amazonia) and the Caribbean. Other interests include economic anthropology and the anthropology of race and gender.
Jason James, Associate Professor of Anthropology, received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California, San Diego. His research interests include nationalism, ethnicity, collective memory, socialism and post-socialism, and Germany. He teaches courses in collective memory, the anthropology of Europe, urban anthropology, and tourism. His book Preservation and National Belonging in Eastern Germany was published by Palgrave-Macmillan in 2012, and he is currently conducting research on the commemoration of slavery and the Civil War in Richmond as well as the process of integrating immigrants in Germany.
Eric Gable, Professor of Anthropology, received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Virginia. He has studied village-level politics and religion in Guinea-Bissau and Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the politics of heritage in the United States. He is the author of Anthropology and Egalitarianism (Indiana University Press) and (with Richard Handler) The New History in an Old Museum (Duke University Press). He is currently a managing editor for Museums and Society and book reviews editor for American Ethnologist.
ART HISTORY
Joseph Dreiss, Professor of Art History, has taught at the University of Mary Washington since 1976. He specializes in contemporary art and art criticism, contemporary architecture and the relationship between art and neuroscience, especially with regard to the implications of neuroplasticity for our understanding of the transformative potential of aesthetic experience. Dreiss teaches Introduction to Western Art I and II, Neoclassicism to Impressionism, Post Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism, American Art, Pop Art to the Present, Seminar in Contemporary Architecture and Methods of Art History.
Julia DeLancey, Professor of Art History, came to the University of Mary Washington in 2017. While previous scholarship has focused on sellers of artists’ materials and especially the Venetian vendecolori (color sellers) her new project examines the history of and visual culture related to disabilities in early modern Venice. At present, it looks at individuals with visual and mobility impairments and at mental diversity. She has presented her work both nationally and internationally. Her teaching responsibilities include art history surveys and first-year seminars (including one on art history and disability studies), as well as upper-level courses in a variety of areas including Medieval art; she has also taught numerous courses on a variety of early modern (Renaissance) and Baroque topics, as well as on art and gender, Dada and World War I, Michelangelo, and the theory and historiography of art history.
Suzie Kim, Associate Professor of Art History, Suzie Kim specializes in the history of Korean and Japanese modern art and architecture. She holds a B.A. in western history from Korea University, Seoul, Korea and a M.A. in art history from Hongik University, Seoul, Korea. She received her Ph.D. in Art History from University of Maryland, College Park in 2015 and has held fellowships in the Japanese art curatorial department at the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
CLASSICS
Angela Pitts
Professor of Classics
(B.A., Ohio University; M.A., Ph.D., University of Wisconsin at Madison)
Lyric poetry, Greek and Latin languages and literatures, Mindfulness
Farmer 238, 540-654-1338, apitts2@umw.edu
PHILOSOPHY
Jason Hayob-Matzke
Professor of Philosophy
(B.S., Ball State University; MAIS, Oregon State University; M.A., Ph.D., Michigan State University)
Ethics, Applied Ethics (Environmental and Medical), Philosophy of Law, Social and Political Philosophy
Farmer 208, 540-654-1113, jmatzke@umw.edu
Michael Reno
Senior Lecturer of Philosophy
(B.A., Illinois State University; M.A., Ph.D., Michigan State University)
Logic, Environmental Philosophy, 19th Century European Philosophy, and Critical Theory
Farmer 237, 540-654-1023, mreno@umw.edu
RELIGION
Jennifer Barry
Associate Professor of Religion
(B.A., Colorado Christian University; M.T.S., Duke Divinity School; Ph.D. Drew University)
Early Christianity, Late Antiquity, Women’s and Gender Studies
Farmer 233, 540-654-1343, jbarry@umw.edu, Humanities Commons site: https://hcommons.org/members/jennisifire/
Kalpesh Bhatt
Assistant Professor of Religion
(B.A., Harvard University; Ph.D. University of Toronto)
Farmer 236, 540-654-1023, kbhatt@umw.edu
Mary Beth Mathews
Professor of Religion
(A.B., The College of William and Mary; M.A., Ph.D., University of Virginia)
American and European Religious History, Christian Fundamentalism,and African American Religions
Farmer 239, 540-654-1354, mmathews@umw.edu , marybethmathews.org
RETIRED
Joseph Romero
Professor of Classics (retired)
(B.A., Mary Washington College; Ph.D., Duke University)
Hellenistic Greek and Latin Literature, Literature’s Engagement with Philosophy, Semiotics; Higher Education
Farmer 235, 540-654-1340, jromero@umw.edu, josephromero.org
Liane Houghtalin
Professor of Classics (retired)
(A.B., University of Michigan at Ann Arbor; M.A., Ph.D., Bryn Mawr)
Greek and Roman archaeology, Greek and Latin languages and literatures, ancient numismatics
Farmer 240, 540-654-1345, lhoughta@umw.edu
David Ambuel
Professor Emeritus of Philosophy;
(B.A., Northwestern University; M.A., Ludwig Maximilians Universität München; Ph.D., Northwestern University)
Ancient Greek philosophy, Indian and Asian philosophy, metaphysics, Kant
dambuel@umw.edu
Mehdi Aminrazavi
Professor Emeritus of Religion & Philosophy; Inaugural Director of the Khatib Program in Religion and Dialogue
(B.A., M.A., University of Washington; Ph.D., Temple University)
Medieval philosophy, Islamic philosophy, philosophy of religion, Eastern religions, metaphysics
maminraz@umw.edu
Janet Wishner
Professor Emerita of Philosophy
(B.A., University of Leeds; M.A., Bedford College, University of London; Ph.D., University of Georgia)
James Goehring
Professor Emeritus of Religion
(B.A., University of California at Berkeley; M.A., University of California at Santa Barbara; Ph.D., Claremont Graduate School)
jgoehrin@umw.edu
Craig Vasey
Professor of Philosophy (retired)
(B.A., Towson State College; Doctorate, Université de Paris; Ph.D., Brown University)
Contemporary French and German philosophy, Marx, Nietzsche, feminism, race, phenomenology and existentialism
cvasey@umw.edu
Nina Mikhalevsky
Provost; Professor Emerita of Philosophy
(B.A., Boston University; M.A., Ph.D., Georgetown University)
Aesthetics, Ethics, Political and Social Theory, American Philosophy, History of Philosophy
nmik@umw.edu