Faculty Resources
Faculty Fellowship
Humanities Institute faculty fellowship program
The Humanities Institute (HI) at the University of South Florida has been supporting research and innovations in the humanities and relevant social sciences since 2003. HI enhances the educational experience of students, faculty, and the community through public lectures, programs, symposia, and other events. The USF Humanities Institute Faculty Fellows Program is designed to encourage interdisciplinarity and support original scholarly and creative work by USF faculty to enhance the research profile of the humanities at USF.
Applications are now closed for the Fall 2025 - Spring 2026 Faculty Fellowship Cohort.
Deadline to apply: February 14, 2025, 5:00 PM
Conference on Democratic Violence in Latin America
The Humanities Institute welcomes its fourth cohort of Faculty Fellows for a year-long collaborative research experience. This year’s cohort will study the social, cultural, and political relationship between Latin America and the United States, with a particular focus on “democratic violence.” While it may appear contradictory (peace and safety should be the result of democracy), the use of violence in democratic nations has often been seen in the West as necessary to bring about a humanistic age through revolutionary movements.
These scholars will explore how political violence in Latin American countries can serve as a warning for democratic institutions, while also drawing on effective, practical examples in Latin American nations that further a robust, democratic culture. Their fellowship year will culminate in a three-day Conference on Democratic Violence in Latin America March 12-14, 2025.
Learn more about the conference
Meet the 2024-2025 Cohort
Diana León-Boys
Assistant Professor | Communication
Diana León-Boys is the author of Elena, Princesa of the Periphery: Disney's Flexible Latina Girl. Her research and teaching interests are in critical media and cultural studies, Latinx studies, and girlhood studies. She is a leader and developer of the subfield of Latina girls' media studies.
- How long have you been a faculty member at USF?
- 4 years
- What are you currently reading?
- Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
- El Invencible Verano de Liliana by Cristina Rivera Garza
José Ángel Maldonado
Assistant Professor | English
José Ángel Maldonado specializes in rhetorical theory and criticism. His work on geopolitics, indigeneity, and deadly violence appears in journals like Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, and Southern Communication Journal.
- How long have you been a faculty member at USF?
- 4 years
- What are you currently reading?
- La Revolución Imaginaria: El Obradorismo y el Futuro de la Izquierda en México by Carlos Illades
- banana [] by Paul Hlava Ceballos
- Data Grab: The New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight Back by Ulises Mejías and Nick Couldry
Alejandro Márquez
Assistant Professor | Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
Alejandro Márquez is a political sociologist interested in social movements, borders, migration, emotions, and care work. His current project is an ethnography on the practice of solidarity in the immigrant rights movement. It highlights the role of emotions and resources in the everyday life of movement organizations on the US Mexico border providing crucial services to migrants and asylum seekers.
- How long have you been a faculty member at USF?
- 2 years
- What are you currently reading?
- Temporada de huracanes by Fernanda Melchor
- Interaction Ritual Chains by Randall Collins
For questions about the Faculty Fellowship Program, contact Liz Kicak.