Project Director
Hettie V. Williams, Ph.D.
Hettie Williams has taught survey courses in U.S. history, Western Civilization, and upper division courses on the history of African Americans at the university level for nearly twenty years. Her teaching and research interests include: African American intellectual history, gender in U.S. history, and race/ethnicity studies. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of African American history in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University where she teaches courses in African American history and U.S. history. She has published book chapters, essays, and encyclopedia entries and edited/authored five books. Her latest publications include Bury My Heart in a Free Land: Black Women Intellectuals in Modern U.S. History (Praeger, 2017) and, with Dr. G. Reginald Daniel, professor of historical sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Race and the Obama Phenomenon: The Vision of a More Perfect Multiracial Union (University Press of Mississippi 2014). Follow her on twitter at @DrHettie2017 and her webpage is: www.hettiewilliams.com
Geographer
Geoffrey G. Fouad, Ph.D.
Geoff Fouad is interested in all things spatial analysis. His career thus far has focused on the spatial analysis of water resources, particularly the prediction of water availability in streams and aquifers. This work has involved the use of geographic information systems (GIS), computer programming, machine learning, data visualization, and environmental modeling. Geoff also has a related interest in remote sensing from satellites and aircrafts for the monitoring and analysis of environmental systems.
As the GIS Program Director and University Cartographer, Geoff is continually expanding his knowledge of spatial analysis to other fields, such as anthropology, criminal justice, and marine science. He teaches a variety of GIS courses, and has a growing research program on wetland hydrology.
Public Historian
Melissa S. Ziobro, M.A.
Melissa Ziobro is the Specialist Professor of Public History and the primary point of contact for the public history minor. Her service to the University includes administration of the Monmouth Memories Oral History Program and the Department’s social media and newsletter. She serves as the campus coordinator for the National History Day program, and the faculty advisor for the History and Anthropology Club.
Melissa currently serves as the President of Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region and as the editor for New Jersey Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, a joint venture of the NJ Historical Commission, Rutgers University Libraries, and Monmouth University. She works regularly with public history organizations such as the Ocean County Historical Society, NJ Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation, Preservation NJ, InfoAge Science History Learning Center and Museum, Monmouth County Park System, Monmouth County Historical Association, Monmouth County Historical Commission, Middlesex County Office of Culture and Heritage, National Guard Militia Museum of NJ, and more.
She worked as a command historian at the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, Fort Monmouth, NJ from 2004-2011.
Filmmaker
Erin K. Fleming, M.A.
Erin Fleming is a filmmaker based in Red Bank, NJ. After receiving a degree in Film Production from Penn State her career began as a video editor in the corporate industrial landscape before moving up the ranks to the role of senior producer at Chubb Insurance. Her early portfolio of provocative storytelling includes; the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the September 11th tragedy, and the aftermath of wildfires in California. She has interviewed heads of state, Fortune 500 CEOs, artists, and locals but prefers creating marketing content for pennywise nonprofits in places such as; Cambodia, Thailand, Rwanda, and Cuba. After living in Madrid, Spain for 5 years she returned to the US in 2010 armed with a new language and embarked on earning a MA in Communication. She is now installed as Director of Production Services at Monmouth University. Directorial work includes: the New Jersey public affairs program Jersey Matters, feature length documentaries focusing on local artists: A Great Circle (2016) and The Other Vincent (2018), as well as, the environmental documentary Drift (2021), winner of the 2022 Best New Jersey Film Award at the Indie Street Film Festival.
Monmouth University Project Team
Dr. Christopher DeRosa, Department of History and Anthropology, Monmouth University
Professor Brooke Nappi, Department of History and Anthropology, Monmouth University
Dr. Katherine Parkin, Department of History and Anthropology, Monmouth University
Dr. Karen Schmelzkopf, Department of History and Anthropology, Monmouth University
Dr. Richard Veit, Department of History and Anthropology, Monmouth University
Advisory Board
Dr. Lillie J. Edwards
Professor Emerita
Department of History
Drew University
Madison, New Jersey
Biography
Dr. Graham Russell Gao Hodges
George Dorland Langdon Jr. Professor of History and Africana & Latin American Studies
Department of History
Colgate University
Hamilton, New York
Biography
Dr. Komozi Woodard
Professor
Department of History
Sarah Lawrence College
Bronxville, New York
Biography
Grants Awarded
Heidi Lynn-Sculthorpe Faculty Enrichment Grant on Just and Sustainable Community Recovery after COVID-19 from the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute
Diversity Innovation Grant (DIG) from the Monmouth University Intercultural Center and the Office of the Provost
Social Media:
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/paradoxical_paradise2021/
Some General Background Photos of Contemporary Asbury Park (All photos by Hettie V. Williams)
