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Dr. Alamilla is currently an Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow in the Department of Applied Psychology in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University (NYU). He received the Ph.D. in Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology (emphasis: Counseling Psychology) from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2009, where he was a Eugene-Cota Robles Fellow. Dr. Alamilla's substantive interests consist of ecocultural and sociocultural psychological models of mental health among ethnocultural groups, particularly Latino/a Americans. His work has focused on the intersection of sociocultural factors, socioenvironmental factors, and mental health and wellbeing among Latino/as Americans. At NYU, he is currently working on (a) a set of quantitative studies examining the effects of individual, cultural, and contextual-level factors on the relationship between psychosocial stressors and mental health among different ethnocultural groups; (b) an in depth and integrative review of the literature on ecocultural models of mental health among different ethnocultural groups; and (c) a monograph related to testing and assessment of Latino/a Americans on behalf of the National Latina/o Psychological Association (NLPA) for the Council of National Psychological Associations for the Advancement of Ethnic Minority Issues (CNPAAEMI). In addition to research and teaching, he serves as ad hoc reviewer for The Counseling Psychologist and the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development.



Jian Chen is Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University, under the auspices of the NYU Postdoctoral and Transition Program for Academic Diversity. Chen's current research explores new demands made on cultural consumption, representation, and politics, with the transnational circulation of images of sexual, gender, and racial flexibility. Chen's work brings into conversation the areas of queer and transgender critique; film, new media, and visual cultures; East Asian diasporas; and comparative race studies. S/he received a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine in 2009 and B.A. degrees in Ethnic Studies and English at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to graduate work, s/he worked as a community organizer, event planner, and fundraiser for San Francisco Bay Area non-profit organizations confronting immigrant sweatshop labor and anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer violence. Chen has also participated in multiple subcultural literary, performance, and visual productions. Chen's article "Sex Without Friction: the Limits of Multi-Mediated Human Subjectivity in Cheang Shu Lea's Tech-Porn" is forthcoming in the electronic journal Postmodern Culture.



Lisette Garcia completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Labor and Industrial Relations and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Penn State. She also completed her Masters of Science in Sociology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a Ph.D. in Sociology from The Ohio State University. Her teaching interests include Stratification and Inequality, the Sociology of Education, the Sociology of Work, and Quantitative Analysis. Her research interests include Race and Ethnic Relations, the Sociology of Education, the Sociology of Work, Inequality, and Public Policy. Her dissertation, entitled: “The multiple personal costs of discrimination: A qualitative analysis of differential mental health outcomes,” explores the personal and behavioral consequences of employment discrimination. She is a former American Association for Higher Education Hispanic Caucus Fellow, an American Sociological Association Minority Fellow, and received a National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID) Exemplary Diversity Scholar Citation. She has presented scholarly papers at national conferences including the Annual meetings of the American Sociological Association and the Southern Sociological Society meetings.



Glynnis M. Johnson is a postdoctoral fellow in the Marketing Department in the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University (NYU). She received her Ph.D. in Advertising from the University of Texas at Austin (UT) in December 2008. She also holds a M.A. in Advertising from UT, a B.A. in Business Administration from Dillard University and a Certificate in Film from NYU.

Glynnis's research interests are advertising and society, creativity in advertising, and multicultural advertising and marketing. Her dissertation was entitled, "Consumers' Perceptions of the Ethics and Acceptability of Product Placement in Movies: Anglo Americans and African Americans." She plans to extend the multicultural product placement study to include Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans during her fellowship at NYU.

Prior to entering the Advertising Doctoral Program at UT, Glynnis worked as an Art Director and Copywriter in the advertising industry. Her dedication to racial diversity in advertising led her to start African Americans in Advertising (AAIA), a non-profit organization for professionals in advertising and related industries. She has and continues to volunteer with various professional advertising organizations that promote racial diversity in advertising.



Dr. Imani Kai Johnson received her bachelor's from UC Berkeley in 1998, where she majored in English and Economics and minored in African American Studies. She went on to earn a Master of Arts at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, focusing on African American and Afro-Caribbean Literature and History, having completed a Master's thesis on African diasporic carnival cultures. She has just completed her PhD in American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California where she continued her work on African diasporic performance practices. The dissertation analyzed "cyphers" -- spontaneous and improvisational dance circles in b-boying (breakdancing) culture. Titled, "Dark Matter in B-Boying Cyphers: Race and Global Connection in Hip Hop," this work considers the cultural and performative dimensions of Hip Hop as a global phenomenon through the microcosm of cyphers and the invisible yet influential forces described by informants that hold them together. The concept of "dark matter" becomes a metaphor for this substantive, unseen force, as well as a metaphor for the often unseen dimensions of African diasporic influences on cyphering. Dr. Johnson has received research and writing support from the Irvine Foundation (2003-2008), the Scholar-in-Residence program at The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at CUNY Hunter College (2005), the University of Southern California Urban and Global Studies Summer Fellowship (2005), and the Ford Dissertation Fellowship (2008-2009). She is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Performance Studies.