College of Liberal Arts

Marcelo Paixao

Current Fellow

African and African Diaspora Studies

Marcelo Paixão is an Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Austin. He is a faculty at the African and African Diaspora Studies Department (AADS), in conjunction with the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS). Prof. Marcelo is a Brazilian economist and holds a Ph.D. in Sociology (IUPERJ, Brazil). Before coming to Austin, he has been a Professor of Economics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) for 16 years, the same place where he majored.

Di Wang

Current Fellow

Government

College of Liberal Arts

Dr. Di "Wendy" Wang is an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin with a joint appointment in the Department of Government and the International Relations and Global Studies (IRG) program. She teaches courses in international political economy, globalization, and capstone research. She has been the faculty director of a widely successful study abroad program in Singapore and Vietnam. Her research focuses on sovereign wealth funds and politics of foreign direct divestment.

Jules Elkins

Current Fellow

Sustainability Studies

College of Liberal Arts

Initiative Focus

Collaborative Learning

Interdisciplinary Learning

Dr. Elkins is the Director of Sustainability Studies and Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Geography and the Environment. Dr. Elkins’ research and teaching is in environmental health, and healthy indoor environments. She is particularly interested in low-dose chemical exposures, especially during the period from preconception to early childhood. Her interests focus on how exposures can be practically and cost-effectively reduced or prevented based on evidence-based models of what interventions measurably work.

Samy Ayoub

Current Fellow

Middle Eastern Studies

College of Liberal Arts

Initiative Focus

Experiential Learning

Improving Teaching and Learning

Elon Lang

Current Fellow

Liberal Arts Honors and Humanities Programs

College of Liberal Arts

Initiative Focus

Curriculum (Re)design

Faculty Communication

Improving Teaching and Learning

Institutional Resource

Elon Lang is an Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches a variety of undergraduate literature survey courses on ethical topics, medieval and early modern studies, dramatic literature, and Experiential Learning courses based in archival research. One example was his 2020-2021 courses called Archival Advocacy in which students learned how to bring archival techniques to bear on a real-world social justice issue facing the East Austin, Texas, community: the closing of one of Austin's historically Hispanic elementary schools.

Marina Alexandrova

Current Fellow

Slavic and Eurasian Studies

College of Liberal Arts

Initiative Focus

Curriculum (Re)design

Student Success

Student Wellbeing

Dr. Alexandrova teaches a variety of courses on Russian history, culture, and language. Her current research interests include international modernism and avant-garde, Russian radical and revolutionary movements, spirituality in Imperial Russia, and, most recently, cultural and spiritual ties between Russia and the United States. Her Signature Course, UGS 303 "Tsars and Mystics," examines (un)Orthodox spiritual practices of Russian rulers from Ivan the Terrible to Nicholas II.