Welcome CHSS New Faculty!

The College of Humanities & Social Sciences is proud to welcome faculty who are new in fall 2019. They come from diverse backgrounds and cover a range of subject matter.

Eva Boodman specializes in social and political philosophy, feminist and applied ethics, critical race theory, and carceral studies. Her current research develops normative approaches to the ways that institutions like schools, prisons nursing homes and social service organizations reproduce or mitigate structural dynamics. Her recent work has appeared in “Philosophy & Social Criticism,” the “Journal of Ethical Urban Living and Radical Teacher.” This fall, she is teaching Environmental Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems.

Debbie Sharnak was a lecturer in the History and Literature Honors Program at Harvard University until taking the position at Rowan. She holds a B.A. in History and Political Science from Vassar College and both an M.A. and a Ph.D., from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her book manuscript, a revised version of her dissertation is entitled, “Of Light and Struggle in Uruguay: Contesting the International History of Human Rights.” She has published several articles, book chapters and NGO reports. In addition to overviews of Latin America, she is interested in teaching courses at Rowan on the History of Human Rights in Latin America, one on the Sports, Politics and Society in Latin America, and a course on the History of Afro-Latin America.

John Shjarback joins the Department of Law & Justice Studies after spending the last three years as an assistant professor at the University of Texas at El Paso. Originally from Edison, N.J., John’s research interests center on American policing with specific focuses on environmental and organizational contexts, as well as contemporary issues in the field.  He has worked collaboratively with various law enforcement agencies conducting evaluations for them. His work has appeared in a number of peer-reviewed outlets, such as “Criminology & Public Policy,” the “Journal of Criminal Justice and Crime & Delinquency,” and he has written op-eds for The Washington Post, the New York Daily News and the El Paso Times.

Marquita Smith graduated from Rutgers University, Newark with a B.A. in Journalism and an M.A. in English and received her Ph.D., from McMaster University in 2015. Her book project, “Through the Glass: African American Literature and Carceral Feelings” offers an exploration of the way in which African American narratives represent the impact of carcerality on the interior lives of those outside of prison yet deeply affected by it. Her critical writings on the intersection of sexuality, race, and gender in African American and Black Diasporic literature and culture have been published in venues such as, Postcolonial Text, Popular Music and Society, the Puritan Magazine, The Black Scholar; and several edited collections. Her teaching and research interests include African American literature and culture, hip-hop studies, gender and sexuality, and critical race studies. In 2018, she was awarded a Career Enhancement Fellowship by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.