In Conversation

Dean Michael Horswell engages in conversation with Marquese McFerguson, Ph.D. as they discuss navigating race, culture, and gender with poetry and spoken word.

Marquese McFerguson is an Assistant Professor of Intercultural Communication, in the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies, for the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, at Florida Atlantic University.

His work explores the interconnected dynamics of race, culture, gender, and media. His essay, "When Hip Hop Speaks, We Listen" won the John T. Warren Top Paper Award in 2018. Last year he won the Art Bochner Outstanding Doctoral Research Scholar Award from the University of South Florida. He is a master of Slam Poetry and Spoken Word.

Dean Michael Horswell engages in conversation with Mehmet Gurses as they discuss the complex nature of armed conflict and how wartime experience can bring about trauma and growth.

Mehmet Gurses (Ph.D. in Political Science, University of North Texas, 2007) is a professor in the Department of Political Science, for the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, at Florida Atlantic University. His research interests include ethnic and religious conflict, post-civil war peace building, post-civil war democratization, Kurdish politics, and the emergence and evolution of the Islamist parties in the Middle East.

Dean Horswell engages in conversation with Mehmet Gurses as they discuss the complex nature of armed conflict and how wartime experience can bring about trauma and growth.

Mehmet Gurses (Ph.D. in Political Science, University of North Texas, 2007) is a professor in the Department of Political Science, for the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, at Florida Atlantic University. His research interests include ethnic and religious conflict, post-civil war peace building, post-civil war democratization, Kurdish politics, and the emergence and evolution of the Islamist parties in the Middle East.

Dean Horswell engages in conversation with Sika Dagbovie-Mullins and Eric Berlatsky as they discuss their co-edited collection, Mixed-Race Superheroes, the intersectionality between Superheroes, racial identity, and racial politics in American popular culture.

Sika Dagbovie-Mullins is an associate professor and director of Graduate Studies in the Department of English at Florida Atlantic University where she specializes in contemporary African American literature and Critical Mixed-Race Studies. She is author of Crossing B(l)ack: Mixed Race Identity in Modern American Fiction and Culture (University of Tennessee Press, 2013) and co-editor of Mixed-Race Superheroes (Rutgers University Press, 2021). Her publications have appeared in journals such as African American Review, The Journal of Popular Culture, and Palimpsest: A Journal on Women, Gender, and the Black International.  

Eric Berlatsky, PhD, is Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Director of the Comparative Studies Ph. D. Program and Professor of English.  He is also, through June 2021, currently the Acting Chair of the Department of English.  Previous to his current position, he was Chair of the Department of English for 6.5 years.  He is the author of  The Real, The True, and The Told: Postmodern Historical Narrative and the Ethics of Representation (Ohio State UP. 2011) and the editor of Alan Moore: Conversations (UP of Mississippi, 2012).  He has published articles on the fiction or comics of Charles Dickens, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Virginia Woolf, Milan Kundera, Paul Auster, Graham Swift, Art Spiegelman, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Hanif Kureishi, and Posy Simmonds.  He has co-published work on race and the superheroes Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan, Black Lightning, Moon Girl, and Spider-Man with Sika Dagbovie-Mullins.  Their co-edited collection, Mixed-Race Superheroes, has just been released from Rutgers UP, and includes his essay on The Flash comics and television show.  

Dean Horswell engages in conversation with Sika Dagbovie-Mullins and Eric Berlatsky as they discuss their co-edited collection, Mixed-Race Superheroes, the intersectionality between Superheroes, racial identity, and racial politics in American popular culture.

Sika Dagbovie-Mullins is an associate professor and director of Graduate Studies in the Department of English at Florida Atlantic University where she specializes in contemporary African American literature and Critical Mixed-Race Studies. She is author of Crossing B(l)ack: Mixed Race Identity in Modern American Fiction and Culture (University of Tennessee Press, 2013) and co-editor of Mixed-Race Superheroes (Rutgers University Press, 2021). Her publications have appeared in journals such as African American Review, The Journal of Popular Culture, and Palimpsest: A Journal on Women, Gender, and the Black International.  

Eric Berlatsky, PhD, is Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Director of the Comparative Studies Ph. D. Program and Professor of English.  He is also, through June 2021, currently the Acting Chair of the Department of English.  Previous to his current position, he was Chair of the Department of English for 6.5 years.  He is the author of  The Real, The True, and The Told: Postmodern Historical Narrative and the Ethics of Representation (Ohio State UP. 2011) and the editor of Alan Moore: Conversations (UP of Mississippi, 2012).  He has published articles on the fiction or comics of Charles Dickens, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Virginia Woolf, Milan Kundera, Paul Auster, Graham Swift, Art Spiegelman, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Hanif Kureishi, and Posy Simmonds.  He has co-published work on race and the superheroes Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan, Black Lightning, Moon Girl, and Spider-Man with Sika Dagbovie-Mullins.  Their co-edited collection, Mixed-Race Superheroes, has just been released from Rutgers UP, and includes his essay on The Flash comics and television show.  

Dean Horswell engages in conversation with Jeffrey E. Huber, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, MLA
Interim Director and Associate Professor for the School of Architecture, as they discuss landscapes that flow with nature and not against it.

Jeff Huber is an Associate Professor and Director of MetroLAB in the School of Architecture at FAU where he teaches upper-division architecture studios. Huber also teaches lecture courses on urban design, and materials and methods of construction. His work focuses on interdisciplinary public work projects that combine ecological, landscape, urban, and architectural design. Huber is also a principal in the internationally recognized firm of Brooks + Scarpa and manages their South Florida office. He is currently researching issues of sea-level rise in south Florida and has established over a quarter of a million dollars in grant funding in that effort through the National Endowment of the Arts and Florida Sea Grant programs.

Dean Horswell engages in conversation with Jeffrey E. Huber, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, MLA
Interim Director and Associate Professor for the School of Architecture, as they discuss landscapes that flow with nature and not against it.

Jeff Huber is an Associate Professor and Director of MetroLAB in the School of Architecture at FAU where he teaches upper-division architecture studios. Huber also teaches lecture courses on urban design, and materials and methods of construction. His work focuses on interdisciplinary public work projects that combine ecological, landscape, urban, and architectural design. Huber is also a principal in the internationally recognized firm of Brooks + Scarpa and manages their South Florida office. He is currently researching issues of sea-level rise in south Florida and has established over a quarter of a million dollars in grant funding in that effort through the National Endowment of the Arts and Florida Sea Grant programs.

Dean Horswell engages in conversation with Alejandro Sánchez–Samper, Professor of Music, as they discuss honoring and bringing new life to Columbian Andean regional music.

Professor Sánchez–Samper is the Assistant Director of Commercial Music in the Department of Music, in the School of the Arts, for the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, at Florida Atlantic University.

Alejandro Sánchez–Samper was recently nominated for a Latin Grammy and is currently working on a documentary project about Columbian Andean music. He received an ASCAP fellowship award to study film scoring at the Aspen Music Festival and School in Aspen, where he was mentored by various distinguished film composers such as Howard Shore, Jeff Rona, Thomas Newman and John Williams. He has written, produced and recorded music for film, orchestra, stage and commercial music projects. He is the faculty supervisor for Hoot/Wisdom Recordings and teaches Audio Engineering for the Musician, Live Sound Reinforcement, Computer Music Sequencing and Introduction to Music Business.

Hoot/Wisdom Recordings L.L.C is a student-run record label, located right on Florida Atlantic University's Boca Raton Campus.

Dean Horswell engages in conversation with Alejandro Sánchez–Samper, Professor of Music, as they discuss honoring and bringing new life to Columbian Andean regional music. 

Professor Sánchez–Samper is the Assistant Director of Commercial Music in the Department of Music, in the School of the Arts, for the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, at Florida Atlantic University.

Alejandro Sánchez–Samper was recently nominated for a Latin Grammy and is currently working on a documentary project about Columbian Andean music. He received an ASCAP fellowship award to study film scoring at the Aspen Music Festival and School in Aspen, where he was mentored by various distinguished film composers such as Howard Shore, Jeff Rona, Thomas Newman and John Williams. He has written, produced and recorded music for film, orchestra, stage and commercial music projects. He is the faculty supervisor for Hoot/Wisdom Recordings and teaches Audio Engineering for the Musician, Live Sound Reinforcement, Computer Music Sequencing and Introduction to Music Business.

Dean Horswell engages in conversation with Joey Bargsten, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Interactive Multimedia, as they discuss how Dr. Bargsten combines digital art, film, video games, interactivity, music, and performances from actors to create immersive storytelling through virtual reality.

Dr. Bargsten is an Associate Professor of Interactive Multimedia, in the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies, for the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, at Florida Atlantic University.

Recent Publications:
Narrative and Spatial Design through Immersive Music and Audio . The IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces, 5th Annual Workshop on Sonic Interactions in Virtual Environments (2020).