2008-9 Faculty and Staff
Faculty
Tiffany Gill, History, UT Austin
Vivé Griffith, Humanities Institute, UT Austin
Domino Renee Perez, English, Center for Mexican American Studies, UT Austin
Jaclyn Pryor, Performance as Public Program, UT Austin
Matthew Daude Laurents is the chair of the Department of Philosophy, Religion, and Humanities at Austin Community College, where he also directs The Ethics Resource Center. A teacher-scholar of wide-ranging interests, he regularly teaches and develops ACC curriculum for courses in the History of Philosophy, World Religions, and Logic. Professor Daude Laurents also trained and practiced as a clinical psychologist before returning for his doctorate in philosophy and beginning his college teaching career.
Tiffany Gill is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Texas at Austin. Her current work examines the role of African American beauticians and beauty salons in twentieth century social, political, and economic movements. She teaches courses in African American History with an emphasis on gender, 20th century U.S. History, Black Business History, and History of the Black Atlantic.
Vivé Griffith is a poet, essayist and teacher with a strong background in working in the community. A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at UT, where she held a fellowship in poetry and fiction, she’s taught poetry to everyone from kindergarteners to retirees. She is the author of the poetry collection Weeks in This Country and a previous co-editor of Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review and her poems, stories and essays about expanding the audience for poetry have been widely published. Vivé came to Free Minds from the UT’s Office of Public Affairs, where she wrote feature stories for the university home page.
Domino Renee Perez is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and the Center for Mexican American Studies, specializing in Chicano/a Literature, American Literature, Popular Culture, Cultural Studies, and Film. She recently completed a book on the US/Mexican transnational folkloric figure La Llorona, the weeping woman. Dr. Perez has been the recipient of the Raymond Dickson Centennial Endowed Teaching Fellowship and is currently at work on a project about Mexican American masculinity in literature and film.
Jaclyn Pryor is a Ph.D. candidate in the Performance as Public Program at UT. She has published essays about progressive pedagogy, queer performance criticism, and feminist performance at the intersections of race, sexuality, and class in America. In addition to teaching writing for Free Minds, Jaclyn has taught theatre history and acting for UT's Department and Theatre and Dance. For the past six years, Jaclyn has also created several large scale performance events with/for the city of Austin, including floodlines, BREAD, and pink: a (love) courier service.
Staff
Sylvia Gale, Free Minds Project Consultant and Founding Director
Vivé Griffith, Free Minds Project Director, Humanities Institute
De 'Borah Jones, Recruiter/Advisor, Austin Community College
Erika Leos, Economic Education Coordinator, Foundation Communities
Jaclyn Pryor, Writing Consultant
Mercedes Martinez, Program Assistant
Sylvia Gale, Consultant and Founding Director
Free Minds Project
sylviag@mail.utexas.edu
Vivé Griffith, Free Minds Project Director
Humanities Institute
(512) 471-8916
freeminds@humanitiesinstitute.utexas.edu
De 'Borah Jones, Recruiter/Advisor
Austin Community College
(512) 223-7621
djones2@austin.cc.edu
Victoria Duose, Economic Education Coordinator
Foundation Communities
(512) 215-1295
victoria.duose@foundcom.org
Jaclyn Pryor, Writing Consultant
Performance as Public Practice Program, UT's Department of Theatre and Dance
jaclyn.pryor@gmail.com
Jennifer Aguirre,Free Minds Project Assistant
Humanities Institute
(512) 471-8916
aide@humanitiesinstitute.utexas.edu