DIRECTOR & FACULTY CHAIR

Stephanie Sadre-Orafai is Director and Faculty Chair of the Taft Research Center and Associate Professor of Anthropology. Trained as a sociocultural and visual anthropologist, her research explores emerging forms of expertise, discourses of realness, and the intersection of race, language, and visual practices in aesthetic industries. Throughout her career Dr. Sadre-Orafai has pursued multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and collaborative projects that blend research and creative practice, resulting in public-facing video, curatorial, and experimental design work. She co-edited and co-led the redesign of Visual Anthropology Review, the journal of the Society for Visual Anthropology, from 2018–2021, and co-founded the Collective for Multimodal Makers, Publishers, Collaborators, and Teachers, another SVA initiative, in 2023.

sadreose@ucmail.uc.edu | 513-556-3569 | 1100C Edwards

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Sean Keating-Crawford serves as the Program Director for the Taft Research Center. Prior to this, he served as Program Manager, Program Coordinator, and a Graduate Assistant at TAFT. Sean earned an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.

keatins@ucmail.uc.edu | 513.558.7541| 1100E Edwards 

BUSINESS MANAGER

Sally Le Yang is the Business Manager at the Taft Research Center, where she has served since 2018. In her role, she oversees the Center’s financial operations, including budgeting, financial analysis, forecasting, transaction processing, and payroll administration. Prior to joining the Taft Research Center, Sally managed operations and financial activities at Utah State University, where she was responsible for grants and contracts totaling more than $12 million. She holds a Master’s in Workforce Development from The Ohio State University and has successfully passed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Exam. She is currently working toward obtaining her Ohio CPA license.

yang2l7@ucmail.uc.edu |  513-556-7368 | Edwards 1100D

DIGITAL MARKETING SPECIALIST

Rikki Reese is the newest addition to the Taft Research Center staff. She started her marketing career in the gaming and casinos industry, previously working for PENN Entertainment in a fast-track corporate management program and Churchill Downs Incorporated as a property-level Marketing Manager. Rikki holds a BA in Strategic Communication and American Studies from Miami University of Ohio and is currently pursuing her MBA through UC's Lindner College of Business.

 reeser4@ucmail.uc.edu | 513-556-8571 | 1100J Edwards

INTERDISCIPLINARY HUMANITIES 
GRADUATE ASSISTANTS 

Fatemeh Rezaei is a second year graduate student pursuing a dual MA in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and MFA in the School of Art. She coordinates the Taft Studio and supports Thematic Programming. 

Jayne Stone is a PhD candidate in Rhetoric & Composition. She supports the Taft Writes program and the Taft Colloquium. 

TaftGradAssistant@ucmail.uc.edu | 1100K Edwards

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS

Harshavardhan Bhat is 2024–26 Taft Postdoctoral Fellow and researcher and writer interested in the social study of monsoonal futures. Bhat is currently thinking through concerns of an abolitional meteorology, exploring the archives of global climatic logistics and its accounting categories, in unpacking stories of race, tropical meteorology and decarceration. His book manuscript Maḷḷæ explores the death of seasonalities and politics of a global story of rain, at a time of breakdown. 

bhathn@ucmail.uc.edu | Edwards 1100G 

Alexandra Dantzer is 2025–27 Taft Postdoctoral Fellow. 

dantzeaa@ucmail.uc.edu | Edwards 1100F