Andrew Young Faculty Fellows Program

The Andrew Young Faculty Fellows Program supports outstanding individuals—including faculty and student advocates, ​researchers, educators, grassroots organizers, writers, journalists, artists, filmmakers, and other individuals to undertake ​projects that engage and inform, generate conversation, change policy or practice, and catalyze change. This year the ​AYCGL supported a cohort of Andrew Young Fellows.

The 2025 Andrew Young Faculty Fellows

  • Andrew J. Douglas, a professor of political science and chair of the department, has taught at Morehouse since 2011. He is the author of three books: Prophet of Discontent: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Critique of Racial Capitalism, coauthored with Jared Loggins; W.E.B. Du Bois and the Critique of the Competitive Society; and In the Spirit of Critique: Thinking Politically in the Dialectical Tradition. Articles and other writings have appeared in, among other outlets, The Du Bois Review, The C.L.R. James Journal, Constellations, Philosophy and Social Criticism, Contemporary Political Theory, The Review of Politics, Boston Review, Academe, Money on the Left, and Political Theory.

    On Friday, April 25, 2025, students in Dr. Douglas's political theories of money class will host a daylong workshop on “Community Money and the Black University.” The event, which is open to all students and staff, will feature several scholars and activists who work on heterodox finance, public banking, and the idea of the solidarity economy. The specific goal of the session is to explore the potential of an HBCU-issued complementary currency that can be used to spearhead more locally and democratically accountable investment on and around HBCU campuses.

  • Hye Ryeon Jang is an assistant professor of political science at Morehouse College. Her research focuses on international security, energy politics, maritime conflict, and data science, employing geographic information system (GIS) analysis and natural language processing (NLP) with a regional emphasis on China and East Asia. She earned her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Florida.

    Since China’s rise as a global economic powerhouse, trade with sub-Saharan African countries has expanded significantly, raising important debates about the impact of China’s neo-mercantilist trade policies. Central to these discussions is whether this trade dynamic contributes to resource exploitation and hinders sustainable development in the region. This student coauthored research project adopts an interdisciplinary approach, incorporating spatial network analysis, structural equation modeling (SEM), and case studies to explore China’s global economic strategy and its broader implications for development and governance in sub-Saharan Africa.

  • Dwayne Joseph is an Assistant Professor for Physics and Dual Degree Engineering program at Morehouse College. As one of the two professors that are a part of the Dual Degree Engineering Program, Dr. Joseph is passionate about creating, disseminating, and evaluating courses that will revolutionize students’ first exposure to mathematics and programming through the lens of modern robotics. 

    This project addresses homelessness the lens of data analysis and computational modeling. By exploring population in/out flows and comparing different demographics, the project will identify key factors contributing to homelessness and uncover disparities in how different groups experience this challenge.  The findings of this project will also be used as a model to develop a social justice module that will be implemented into a Robotics course entitled “Computational Linear Algebra” as part of the Distributive Teaching Collaborative (DTC).

  • Matthew Platt is an associate professor of political science at Morehouse College. His research focuses primarily on how the behavior of black members of Congress furthers a black policy agenda. At Morehouse he teaches courses on research methods, American politics, congress, black politics, and policy analysis. 

    The project examines the relationship between black representation and black health outcomes. Using a new dataset that combines individual and district-level health data with member-level data on bill sponsorship, this project will be able to explore a chain from political and policy decisions to social determinants of health to individual and collective black health.

  • Dominique Thomas is an adjunct professor in psychology. He attained his B.A. in psychology from Morehouse College and his M.A and Ph.D. in community psychology from Georgia State University. His research and teaching interests are in African consciousness in the diaspora, specifically Afrofuturism, socialization, identity, and resistance to racist and colonial structures of imperialism.

    The project From Sankofa to Afrofuturism: Afrofuturist Liberation Schools will pilot freedom schools inspired by the Mississippi Freedom Schools during the 1960s. Students will conduct community-based participatory action research projects while learning topics such as participatory democracy, solidarity economies, restorative justice, political education, and consciousness raising.

  • Emani Rashad Saucier, MFA, is a dynamic film director, servant-leader, and educator passionate about empowering storytellers to find their voices and share their narratives. He excels at capturing compelling stories and leveraging his diverse skillset to transform them into impactful media experiences.

    The Black History in Extended Reality Project (BHXR) aims to bring to life stories of the African diaspora through immersive multimedia experiences in virtual and augmented reality (collectively known as extended reality or XR). The first phase of this project, supported by the Andrew Young Faculty Fellowship, will begin with technical training and culminate in the production of a social justice–oriented XR video created by student storytellers.

  • Rodney Walker, a Chicago native, is an author and educator, specializing in trauma-informed mentorship and social justice leadership. He is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Leadership Studies Program at Morehouse College. He is also the author of an acclaimed educational memoir, titled A New Day One: Trauma, Grace, and a Young Man’s Journey from Foster Care to Harvard, as well as a professional development book entitled Wounds You Can Not See.

    The B.O.L.D. Leadership Camp & Competition is a restorative justice initiative for crisis-impacted adults. The goal is to teach them the entrepreneurial mindset, and to facilitate the creation of a life business plan that strategically and comprehensively outlines their road to recovery. To achieve this goal, these adults will be incited to invest in this learning and recovery by centering their own program around an orated “life-plan” competition, where they will have a chance to win prize money, media promotion, and other incentives.

Past Faculty Award Recipients and Projects

  • Student Fellows Imani Hights, Jovenson Jerome, and Dewan Wright, and Faculty Advisory, Professor Mona Ray, Ph.D., Professor of ​Economics. The Morehouse First Generation Forward Initiative provided a new and moderated environment for first-generation ​students to excel academically, professionally, and interpersonally on Morehouse’s campus. 

  • Samuel Livingston, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Africana Studies. The Maroon Telema: Stand Up for Africana and Congolese Rights ​developed Morehouse servant leaders attuned to humanistic, globally-focused analyses of issues facing African American and ​Congolese (K) communities. Student fellows executed research that offers useful data, engage in conversations toward praxis that is ​actionable, pragmatic, and specifically designed to address 21st century social, political, and economic problems and challenges in ​Congo and its diaspora. 

  • Amber Reid, Ph.D., Adjunct Faculty, Africana Studies. Student Fellows J. Evan Young and Chase Cleveland, and Morehouse alumnus, ​Grant Nelson. Lifting Every Voice: Stories of Black Excellence in Cherokee County, GA. 

    The Lifting Every Voice project chronicles the history of Cherokee County’s historically Black neighborhoods and residents. The project ​team engaged in community-based research to create a brief documentary. The project seeks to elevate the voices of these ​communities and ongoing efforts to preserve their histories and legacies.

  • This project will create a database of every black issue bill introduced in Congress from 1947 to 2016 (all the way to 2020 as more data becomes available). This database would also include biographical information for all members of Congress (MCs) who served during this time period, all MCs' committee assignments, all MCs' ideological scores based on roll call voting, and survey data on their constituents' attitudes from 2006 to 2018. The database will be used to further ongoing research projects around the efficacy of black agenda setting at the national level.

  • A means to develop mathematical talent is to strengthen mathematics knowledge and skills through preparation for Math competitions. Preparation for Math competitions inspires the participant to increase the amount of time spent studying Math and increase the difficulty of problems studied. Thus, each participant becomes a winner through preparation. Each becomes a champion by improving their mathematical ability through preparation for Math competitions. The Annual Math Competitions Bootcamp has been held for nine (9) years at Morehouse. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the bootcamp was held online last year. However, Mathletes rose to the occasion despite the change in the format of the competition. Once again, the main objective to facilitate participation of underrepresented groups in mathematics competitions was achieved. Students joined online from all over metropolitan Atlanta and surrounding states to take part in the online version of the bootcamp. While the main objective of the bootcamp has been achieved, focused effort is continued to increase the involvement of students in the surrounding neighborhood of Morehouse College, Atlanta’s West End and Westside communities. The goal is to ensure that this local community of scholars are aware of this fun activity that develop their fundamental Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) knowledge and skills needed to succeed in school, technical careers and life. Thus, through the continued support of the AYCGL SocialJustice and Leadership Innovation Award, it is with great pleasure to raise awareness of Morehouse College Tenth Annual Math Competitions Bootcamp in Atlanta’s West End and West Side communities.

  • Student Fellows Imani Hights, Jovenson Jerome, and Dewan Wright, and Faculty Advisory, Professor Mona Ray, Ph.D., Professor of ​Economics. The Morehouse First Generation Forward Initiative provided a new and moderated environment for first-generation ​students to excel academically, professionally, and interpersonally on Morehouse’s campus.

  • Health—whether at an individual or a population level—extends into the home, workplace, school, neighborhood, and community. Social determinants of health include not only access to health services but also quality education, economic stability, social and community support, and healthy environments. This project provided a framework for community members and students to engage and acquire the skills and resources to investigate the health of their community, and then plan, implement, and evaluate actions that change the environment to promote and improve health. Often people are unaware of environmental issues or the threats that a community may face. Photography may expose those issues by visually displaying both the beauty of nature and the consequences to that beauty of accidental and deliberate environmental degradation. Exploring different areas of Proctor Creek watershed on a walking tour, along with local community partners, students were to document their journey through digital imagery (photographs and/or video) highlighting environmental conditions or social determinants of health they would like to address in the community. Students would then develop a remediation plan, complete a reflection journal, and participate in a service learning activity.

  • A means to develop mathematical talent is to strengthen mathematics knowledge and skills through preparation for math competitions. Preparation for math competitions inspires the participant to increase the amount of time spent studying math and increase the difficulty of problems studied. Thus, each participant becomes a winner through preparation. Each becomes a champion by improving their mathematical ability by preparing for math competitions. The Annual Math Competitions Bootcamp was held for eight (8) years on the Morehouse College campus with a primary objective to facilitate participation of underrepresented groups in mathematics competitions has been achieved. Implementation of this important program provides a competitive and inspiring opportunity for students from the Metropolitan Atlanta area, especially the West End community. The goal is to ensure that this community of students are aware of this fun activity that develop their fundamental Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) knowledge skills needed to succeed in school and technical careers.

  • The proposed collaborative project with a local high school sought to bring a group of students to a film screening with our annual Spring Semester class, West African Fiction & Film, in order to view an African cinema classic, Keïta: The Heritage of the Griot (Dir. Dani Kouyaté, Burkina Faso, 1995), a modern retelling of the most famous epic in West Africa, the Epic of Sunjata (13th c.).

    Students from a local high school were to be selected by their teacher/s to attend the film and discussion. Prior to the screening, they will be given study guides and study questions, including background information on the Epic of Sundjata, on Mandé cultures, and context on the modern history of West African countries, especially those with Mandé populations (Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, the Gambia, Liberia, etc.). After the screening, Dr. Janis was to provide key quotations from the film and notes on Sundjata’s unique leadership qualities based on the tradition of Mandé wisdom from the tradition of griots (cf. D.T. Niane’s text as well as contemporary translations and criticism). Student response papers or video responses involving directed analysis of one or two of the topics were to be submitted.

  • This project proposed a journalistic approach to understanding the cultural context of community, both past and present, through the use of virtual reality storytelling. It is part of a 19-year focus on community-based power as examined through the tools of journalism and cultural studies. The proposed study extends the already developed strategy of visual storytelling by engaging viewers toward experience in order to have them understand people beyond stereotype.

  • Dr. Andrew Douglas will introduce a new FYE, “Debt and Democracy,” which will explore various ways in which debt affects democracy around the world, with special emphasis on the current student debt crisis and political proposals for reparations and debt cancellation. The course includes a significant service-learning component: students will be required to partner with Morehouse alumni (from the debt-free 2019 class and other classes) and gather data for an ongoing longitudinal study of Morehouse graduates. Students will deliberate with alumni about the value of a liberal arts education, its place in a democratic society, its costs and accessibility, and its impact on career and other life choices. The course and its service-learning component is intended to establish an intellectual and curricular basis from which members of the Morehouse community can work together to lead national conversations on some of the most urgent challenges facing our democracy today.

  • The Writing Social Justice Program is committed to commemorating the 60th Anniversary Atlanta Student Movement, learning about the importance of student movements, in general, to social justice and to the production of a digital and physical exhibit highlighting the research that the voices of the people involved in these movements. The project will feature quest lectures by local scholars, opportunities for to collect oral histories, and end with a project to advocate for markers/monuments on the Morehouse campus to commemorate Morehouse students like Julian Bond and Lonnie King who were involved in the movement.

Past Student Award Recipients

  • Calvin Bell III is working to develop a study that examines “radical love” as a means of decolonizing disciplinary power pervasive in educational institutions. Backed by his current research entitled “Reimaging the Carceral Landscape: From Discipline and Punishment to Social Reckoning and Radical Love in Academic Spaces,” Mr. Bell will perform an ethnographic study to understand how students conceptualize ideas of love and care and if it is present within their professor’s teaching. Ultimately, his goal is to articulate his thoughts in a final paper to distribute to educators serving Black scholars so they can reevaluate their pedagogy and praxis as a means of transgressing.

  • George Pratt will complete a study of the different modes of masculinity at Morehouse. Building off of the sociologist Saida Gundy’s work, Mr. Pratt will hold think tanks and conduct interviews to understand how masculinity is formed at Morehouse. His project will lead to the production of a documentary film that explores manhood and masculinity at the CollegeGrant Bennett (Psychology) planned to advance the work of the Emerging Leaders project that trains upperclassmen to serve as mentors of freshman.

  • Christian Taylor will conduct a study of the integration of black history and culture across the Morehouse curriculum. Working under the mentorship of Dr. Adria Welcher, assistant professor of sociology and director of the general education program, Mr. Taylor will assess how well different majors incorporate black history into their pedagogy. By looking at written as observational data, Mr. Taylor will understand the extent to which the College delivers on its mission to “teach the history and culture of Black people” and make policy recommendations on how to improve on that mission.

  • Cecil Price’s project, The Education Coalition Ecosystem, will provide support to students at the Urban Academy of Greater Pittsburgh Charter School. Seeing a gap in support for black and brown students at the school in the context of the Covid pandemic, Mr. Price Ill was moved to organize a group of students from historically black colleges and universities to perform needs assessment of students at Urban Academy and provide information to the high school’s administration to help them target support to students who are at risk.

  • Planned to study how academic commitment devices can impact GPAs of HBCU students.

  • Planned to advance the work of the Emerging Leaders project that trains upperclassmen to serve as mentors of freshman.

  • Planned to explore how the construction of the interstate highway system impacted African-American communities in Atlanta.

  • Planned to work on his Dream Big Initiative to increase voter registration, civic engagement, and community service.

  • Planned to create a documentary film on manhood at Morehouse and the ways that students negotiate race, class, masculinity, and sexual norms on campus.