ISGRJ Postdoctoral Fellows (Cohort III, 2023–2024)
These humanities-centered fellowships supported recent doctoral recipients whose research demonstrated a deep investment in the areas of inquiry related to anti-racism and social inequality.
View Our Past Cohorts of Postdoctoral Fellows
Michael Conteh
Postdoctoral Associate in Public Policy and Administration, Rutgers–Camden
Areas of Expertise: Institutional Community Engagement, Local development, Urban Revitalization, Public Sector Management, Restorative Justice
Dr. Michael Conteh holds a Ph.D. in Global Affairs from Rutgers University's Graduate School in Newark. His research focuses on the critical role of higher education institutions as anchors in their host cities and these institutions' community engagement strategies, emphasizing their inherent value in local development and urban revitalization. Prior to his doctoral studies, Dr. Conteh worked for the Namibia Institute of Public Administration and Management (NIPAM), a leading management development institute, in Windhoek, Namibia. As Director of Research and Consultancy, he spearheaded initiatives in public sector management, capacity building, gender-based violence, and human trafficking, demonstrating his multifaceted and interdisciplinary expertise. His research interests are impressively broad, focusing on restorative justice practices and reparative frameworks, higher education institutions and their host cities. His comparative analysis of universities as anchor institutions in their respective cities demonstrates his dedication to global academic progress and community engagement strategies.
andie millares
Postdoctoral Associate in English, Rutgers-Camden
Areas of Expertise: Poetry and Creative Nonfiction
andie millares is a poet from New Jersey. She recently received her MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers University-Camden, where she wrote about knockoff bags, Hello Kitty, poetry fellowships, Kermit the Frog, and Spam. andie has been granted fellowships from Kundiman for poetry and Lambda Literary for playwriting, respectively. Her work has been published in Catapult, Foglifter Journal, Underblong, MAYDAY Magazine, and elsewhere. She researches and writes about hobbyism, fashion, DIY culture, and arts administration in hopes of exploring how a language of making might intersect with a language of care.
Dario Hernan Vasquez Padilla
Postdoctoral Associate in Latino and Caribbean Studies, Rutgers-New Brunswick
Areas of Expertise: Racial States, Race and Racism
Dario H. Vásquez-Padilla received his Ph.D. in Sociology with certificates in African Diaspora Studies and Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is the research coordinator at the Observatory on Racial Discrimination in Colombia. His fields of specialty include the racial state in Latin America, the sociology of race and racism, and historical reparations. In his research, he explores how executive, legislative, and judicial bodies of public power interpret and regulate race, ethnicity, and racism. He also delves into debates about whiteness, anti-racism, and racial justice in the region.
Beginning January 15, 2025, Dr. Vásquez-Padilla has been appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia where he will carry out teaching, research, extension, and academic-administrative activities.
Sasha Ann Panaram
Postdoctoral Associate and Cheryl A. Wall Postdoctoral Fellow in English, Rutgers-New Brunswick
Areas of Expertise: African American and Caribbean Literature, Slavery Studies, Black Feminism
Sasha Ann Panaram received her Ph.D. in English with certificates in African & African American Studies and Feminist Studies at Duke University. Her research specializes in twentieth and twenty-first century African American and Caribbean literature with a focus on slavery studies and women’s and gender studies. She is currently working on a book project tentatively titled The Aesthetic Afterlives of the Middle Passage: Black Movement, Catastrophe, and Choreographies for Living.
