About Us
Honors Faculty Ulluminair Salim
Community Narratives | Social Epidemiology | Imagination + Play
Dr. Ulluminair Salim is a boundary-breaking educator and scholar at the University of South Florida’s Judy Genshaft Honors College. Her work explores urgent questions about whose lives matter, whose bodies count, and who gets to decide — probing the social and political forces that shape global markets of suffering and value. Through theoretical inquiry and ethnographic practice, Dr. Salim brings visibility to marginalized communities and engages students in reimagining the world through activism, empathy and imagination.
Blurring Boundaries Through Art
Dr. Salim earned a bachelor’s degree in social welfare from the University of California, Berkeley, before going on to receive a master’s in public health and a certificate in gerontology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She later earned a doctorate in sociology from the University of California, San Francisco.
She joined the Honors College in 2017 and serves as an associate professor of instruction. With more than 15 years of teaching experience, Dr. Salim brings a deep commitment to co-creating inclusive, collaborative learning environments that prioritize curiosity, vulnerability, and shared growth.
At the Honors College, Dr. Salim uses the study and practice of art as a mode of social critique and political engagement. Her courses challenge students to confront the intersections of personal experience and political struggle. These classes cultivate critical inquiry through creative methods, positioning education as a tool for both self-reflection and social change.
Teaching and Research
Whether designing art-based workshops on personal transformation or analyzing global injustices through film, Dr. Salim's teaching emphasizes active engagement with real-world issues. She fosters leadership by encouraging students to guide their peers and embrace diverse ways of thinking and being in the world.
At the Judy Genshaft Honors College, Professor Salim teaches courses such as:
- Narrative Cartography: Mapping the Stories of Your Life
- Beasts and Burdens: Survival, Imagination and Risk in the (Global) South
- Connections: Mental Health, Community Engagement and Art
Professor Salim believes education should not only engage with academic literature, but also challenge it — creating space for new, inclusive forms of knowledge to emerge. Her classrooms are collaborative and deeply human spaces where students are empowered to imagine and shape a more just world.
Contact Dr. Ulluminair Salim