Department of Global Interdisciplinary Studies
The Global Gazette
Letter from the Chair
Dear Friends of GIS,

I am delighted to share with you this inaugural edition of our department’s newsletter. I can tell you that it’s been a long time coming, seeing how it seems that new things are always happening all at once in GIS! It’s wonderful to have this medium to share with you the highlights, one newsletter edition at a time.

Last spring, we held our open house, where we invited three GIS alums from different years to come share their GIS and post-Villanova experience with our current students. It was amazing to see how each alumnus seemed to have had a different sense of GIS, from the person who graduated the last year before the major devolved into multi-area-study majors, to all three walking down our office suite corridors in Garey Hall reading the senior thesis posters of our most recent graduates—a tradition we started only two years ago. And just last fall, we launched two new majors in the department: GIS: Chinese Studies and GIS: Japanese Studies. We still have our GIS: Asian Studies major, thus capturing the two strands of our endeavors—language and cultural studies on a global scale.

I hope you are pleased with where we are headed from reading this bulletin.

Peace,

Chiji Akọma, PhD
Chair, Department of Global Interdisciplinary Studies
Get Involved
GIS Coffee Hour
The Department of Global Interdisciplinary Studies would like to invite you to Coffee Hour! Come chat with the faculty, students and staff of GIS and learn what’s new in the department.

• Friday, Sept. 15
• Friday, Oct. 20
• Friday, Nov. 10

All Coffee Hours will take place at 11 a.m. in Garey Hall, Office 36. Free food and drink provided. See you there!
Cultural Studies Food Matters Week
Enhance your palate and your mind during the annual Cultural Studies Food Matters Week featuring tastings and talks on food justice around the world. Speakers include chefs Kurt Evans, fighting mass incarceration through food, Arielle Ashford, founder of Unity Taqueria and Recovery Center, and Factory Farm expert, Eamon Ghasemiyeh.

Talks and tastings will take place Oct. 17-19 at 6 p.m. in Falvey Library room 205. Join us to learn more about food and social justice and sample delicious cuisine!
Dia de los Muertos
Cultural Studies and Latin American Studies majors are proud co-sponsors of the upcoming Dia de los Muertos festivities hosted by the Hispanic Society. Join us Thursday, Nov. 2, at 4:30 p.m. as we gather at the Connelly Center, South Entrance to celebrate!
Faculty News
Faculty Spotlights
Dana Lloyd, PhD, assistant professor of Global Interdisciplinary Studies’ new book, Land is Kin: Sovereignty, Religious Freedom, and Indigenous Sacred Sites (University Press of Kansas) will be released in October 2023. Her book reexamines what constitutes sacred sites and offers a fresh study of some key U.S. Supreme Court decisions on Native American lands.
Olukunle Owolabi, PhD, director of the Africana Studies Program and associate professor of Political Science, has published Ruling Emancipated Slaves and Indigenous Subjects: The Divergent Legacies of Forced Settlement and Colonial Occupation in the Global South (OUP, 2023). The book examines the varying developmental outcomes of Europe’s forced colonial settlements and policies in the Atlantic World. Dr. Owolabi will give a Book Talk at Falvey Library on Sept. 26 at 5 p.m.
Mark Lawrence Schrad, PhD, director of the Russian Area Studies Program and Professor of Political Science, won the 2023 Francesco Guicciardini Prize for the Best Book in Historical International Relations through the International Studies Association, for his most recent publication, Smashing the Liquor Machine: A Global History of Prohibition (OUP, 2021).
New Faculty and Roles
Global Interdisciplinary Studies continues to grow! This year, we welcome our newest faculty member, Jonathan O’Neill, PhD, associate professor of Irish Language and Culture. In addition, Keiko Edmondson joins our Japanese Language Program faculty as a part-time instructor. We are excited to continue this growth and further nurture our students’ GIS education and experience. 
Jonathan O’Neill, PhD
This fall, we will see new faces at the helm of the Asian Studies Program and the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies. Nathan Badenoch, PhD, associate professor of Japanese and Asian Studies, takes over from Hailin Zhou as the director of Asian Studies. Samer Abboud, PhD, associate professor of Global Interdisciplinary Studies, is the new director of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies, taking over from Catherine Warrick, PhD. Our department is immensely proud to have two of our GIS members head these programs, and we hope for a great first year under their leadership!
Student News
Student Spotlight
Tiane Parris '24 CLAS, GIS: Independently Designed Specialization

“As a GIS major, I have had the unique opportunity to explore education from an interdisciplinary lens. This means I have had a varied educational journey, and I have been exposed to many different styles of learning. One of the most hands-on learning experiences I have had has been taking part in the social justice documentary course with Professor Hezekiah Lewis. I was afforded the opportunity, as a non-film/media/communication major to direct a documentary in Kenya and work on my personal goals to promote social justice. Moreover, the GIS department has allowed me to learn languages such as Swahili that I would have never otherwise looked into. Finally, my experience as a GIS: Independently Designed Specialization (GIDS) major has given me the opportunity to create a flexible course of study that has allowed me to explore the big idea that interests me most.”
Alumni News
Alumni Spotlights
María Angeles Zumárraga '11 CLAS, GIS: Political Science and Latin American Studies

María is a program specialist at U.S. Embassy in Quito, Ecuador. She manages citizen security and law enforcement cooperation projects with the government of Ecuador. María works closely with implementing partners such as the United Nations and the Pan-American Development Foundation. Her GIS major gave her valuable tools that she uses every day in her current job such as critical thinking, interdisciplinary analysis, agency, thinking globally and acting locally.
Madeline Scolio '23 CLAS, GIS and Geography

Madeline collaborated with Villanova professors in the GEV, GIS and Statistics departments to create a spatiotemporal model ambient air temperature across the city of Philadelphia. In research as well as policymaking, surface temperature is used as a proxy for air temperature since surface temperature data is more widely available on a fine scale. Madeline received a grant from the National Science Foundation and will present her work at the American Association of Geographers conference in spring 2024.
We want to hear from you!

We are looking for alumni to feature in future editions of the newsletter. If you would like to contribute, please tell us about your successes and updates.