The academic year in review

Faculty

Sierra Austin-King

Sierra joined WGSS faculty as an assistant professor of teaching in autumn 2025 following her time as lecturer in the department. She specializes in Black feminist thought, with an emphasis on how social systems, curricula, pedagogy, and educational practices and policy shape the academic experiences of Black girls.

LaVelle Ridley

LaVelle joined WGSS as an assistant professor in autumn 2025 following a postdoctoral experience at the University of California, Berkeley. LaVelle’s research focuses on the intersection of queer and transgender studies, Black feminisms and literary and cultural studies of racialized gender and sexuality.

Octavian Robinson

Octavian joined the department as an associate professor in autumn 2025. Octavian’s research focuses on language attitudes towards signed languages within academia and linguistic protectionism among deaf communities at the intersections of gender, disability, race and sexuality.

Mick Min Hung Kuo, PhD

Home: Taiwan

Mick is interested in how transness and gender nonconformity have been discursively mobilized to define what queerness means in Taiwan.

Zahrah Rizwan, PhD

Home: Colombo, Sri Lanka

Zahrah’s research interests include exploring sex work at the intersections of capitalism, colonialism and contemporary crises, through the lens of intimate labor and leisure economies.

Camilla Santos, PhD

Home: Mirangaba, Bahia, Brazil

Camilla’s research explores the Christian Conservative movement in Brazil and its relationship with women’s reproductive rights, focusing on abortion politics and moral agency.

Nowshin Sharmila, MA

Home: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Sharmila is particularly interested in critical anti-trafficking studies focusing on invisible economy of sex work, gender and migration, and sexual and gender-based violence in the context of South Asia.

Tamar Westphal, PhD

Home: Chicago, IL

Tamar’s research focus is femme theory, embodiment, and eroticism; drawing on media/performance studies and archival femme life writings. She theorizes the femme body, erotics and sex as a site of gender enactment.

Travis York, PhD

Home: Michigan

Travis’ research employs an interdisciplinary approach to theorizing disabled identities throughout modern American history. They specialize in both archival methods and theoretical approaches to queer and disability studies.

Ali Alkhalifa

Education Program Specialist

Ali joined the department in a staff role, after completing both his BA and MA in WGSS. He is responsible for course and classroom scheduling, curriculum management, recruitment and programmatic liaison work for the department.

Coty Carroll

Financial Operations Senior Coordinator

Coty brings with him many years of fiscal experience in other sectors. In his current role, Coty helps facilitate Workday processing of travel requests, reimbursements and purchase orders for WGSS, as well as Philosophy, CEHV and Design.

Laurel Clarkson

Senior Academic Program Services Specialist

With over 10 years of experience in student services at Ohio State, Laurel is now serving as WGSS’ new graduate program coordinator. In this role, she oversees the recruitment and admissions processes, as well as general program management.

Meg Downing

Undergraduate Academic Advisor

Meg joined our department last year as an undergraduate academic advisor and boasts 14 years of advising experience at the university.

Jackie McCuskey

Financial Operations Senior Analyst

Joining the department from another fiscal role in ASC, Jackie now manages fiscal coordination, including the budget and fiscal policies, for WGSS, Philosophy and CEHV.