Community College Internationalization Fellows

Introducing Our Fellows

2024-25 Fellows

Athesia Benjamin, MFA

Assistant Professor, Art, Monroe Community College

LACS Fellow Project: Abstraction in Jamaican Art: Contemporary and Historical Antecedents. Athesia will explore how Jamaican artists, past and present, have worked non-representationally and delve into the personal symbolism behind the abstract elements. 

Samuel B. Cushman, PhD

Adjunct Professor, Music, Onondaga Community College

LACS/SAP-SAC Fellow Project: Afro-South Asian Musical Intersections in the Caribbean & Beyond. Sam will explore the musical & cultural exchange between sub-Saharan Africa and the Black Atlantic to deepen these perspectives by also attending to Afro-South Asian syncretism; he’ll include topics on the musical practices of the Indian Ocean African Diaspora, South Asian labor migration and hybrid Afro-South Asian musics of the Caribbean, and the Black music in contemporary South Asian popular music culture. 

William W. "Bill" Drumright, PhD

Associate Professor, History, Monroe Community College

LACS Fellow Project: The Treacherous Terrain of Cold War Proxies: Examining the Cold War from Selected Perspectives in Latin America. As a second-time fellow (his first was in 2020 with a focus on Southeast Asia), Bill's current project will dovetail with a humanities-based initiative at MCC in which he’ll create learning guides for synchronous and asynchronous formats for both history and non-history courses. 

Christine Evans, MA

Professor, Spanish, Tompkins Cortland Community College

LACS Fellow Project: La Literatura Latinamericana para Principiantes. Also a second-time fellow (her first was in 2020 which focused on Latin American film), Christine will continue to expand her instructional tools in teaching beginner and intermediate Spanish courses by using Latin American literature to help teach and build beginning Spanish language skills. 

Jennifer O'Hara, JD, EdD

Professor/Chair, Business & Accounting, Corning Community College

LACS Fellow Project: Internationalization of Business Law through Comparative Analysis. Jennifer is poised to dig into the law & ethics of Chile’s emerging markets to create a dedicated new unit on international law for the intro-level Business Law I course required for all business and accounting majors.  

Michelle Richau, MA, MEd

Instructor, Spanish, Jamestown Community College

LACS Fellow Project: Globalize your Mind: Guatemala. As a co-fellow with Jessica Swanson, they aim to revitalize a service-learning study abroad program to Guatemala for health and education students at JCC by developing a one-credit course to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of Guatemala, including the culture, history, geography, political, and social issues with a focus on fostering cultural competencies.  

Coleton Seidl, MFA

Assistant Professor, Cinema & Screen Studies, Monroe Community College

SEAP Fellow Project: Postcolonial Studies and the Cultivation of National Identity through Indonesian Film History. Cole's creative philosophy rests on the idea that international diversity allows for more interesting artmaking and is great practice for cross-cultural empathy & intellectual analysis. With new interest in Indonesian film, Cole has begun to study the Indonesian language to try “…to incorporate the country’s filmic output into [his] classes.”  

Jessica Swanson, OTD, MS, OTR/L

Professor, Occupational Therapy Assistant Program, Jamestown Community College

LACS Fellow Project: Globalize your Mind: Guatemala. As a co-fellow with Michelle Richau, they aim to revitalize a service-learning study abroad program to Guatemala for health and education students at JCC by developing a one-credit course to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of Guatemala, including the culture, history, geography, political, and social issues with a focus on fostering cultural competencies.  

2023-24 Fellows

Catherine DuBreck, MS

Lecturer, Chemistry and Geosciences, Monroe Community College.

SAP/SAC Fellow Project: Mapping Informal Settlements in India: A geospatial exploration of Indian culture and poverty

Tracey Graney, PhD, MLS(ASCP)

Professor of Biology and Clinical Laboratory Technician Program Director, Monroe Community College

IAD Fellow Project: An Introduction to Global Health Challenges and Successes: Perspectives from Africa

Robert L. Muhlnickel, PhD

Professor of Philosophy, Monroe Community College.

SEAP Fellow Project: Democracy in South Asian Muslim-Majority Countries

Angela Palumbo, MA

Associate Professor of ESL, Tompkins Cortland Community College.

SEAP Fellow Project: Cambodian Youth’s Perspectives on Contemporary Issues

John Troyer, MA

Assistant Professor, English, Tompkins Cortland Community College.

SEAP Fellow Project: Exploring Literature as a Platform for Social Change in Modern Cambodia

Franzie Weldgen, MFA

Associate Professor, Visual and Performing Arts, Monroe Community College.

The Internationalization of Latin American Comic Creators into Course ART 110 Comics & Sequential Art

2022-23 Fellows

Anna Annorino, PhD

Psychology, Cayuga Community College. SEAP Fellow Project: Human Development: A Cultural Approach to Southeast Asia

Emma Draper-Reich, MFA

English, Corning Community College. SAP Fellow Project: Incorporating South Asian Fiction in College Composition II

David D. Flaten, PhD

History/Political Science, Tompkins Cortland Community College. LACS Fellow Project: Creating a World History & Global Awareness course: The History of the Caribbean Region Since 1491

Sky Leigh Moss, MA

History, Corning Community College. IAD/LACS Fellow Project: Black Settlements in Central America 1525-1650 ce

Sri Kamesh Narasimhan, PhD

Chemistry, Corning Community College. SAP Fellow Project: Isolation & Characterization of Pharmaceutically Active Components from Traditional Indian Medicinal Plants

Joseph Scanlon, PhD

Political Science, Monroe Community College. SEAP Fellow Project: Playing Games: Sport & Cultural Identity in Southeast Asia

Angelique Stevens, MFA

English, Monroe Community College. IAD/SAP Fellow Project: Human Rights through a Literary Lens

2021-22 Fellows

Jasna Bogdanovska, MFA

Photography, Monroe Community College. SAP/SEAP Fellow Project: Re-Framing Culture through Visual Storytelling

Roland 'Rollo' Fisher, PhD

Choral Music, Monroe Community College. IAD Fellow Project: Engaging in Purposeful Thought of Global Diversity through the Music and Culture of Nigeria & Senegal

Kimari Johnson, MFA

English, Tompkins Cortland Community College. Fellow Project: Traveling the World through Multilingual Research and the Process of Translation

Laura Penman, MS

Biology, Monroe Community College. SAP/SEAP Fellow Project: Environmental management and food security in the coastal communities of Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Indonesia