Taft Professor of Social Justice 2023-2026
Dr. Stephanie Sadre-Orafai has been selected as the new Taft Professor of Social Justice! Dr. Sadre-Orafai is a sociocultural and visual anthropologist whose ongoing, long-term research on race, racism, and aesthetic industries advocates for and centers questions of social justice by critically analyzing how experts know, name, and represent people as types. In her most recent project, she examines the porous boundary between human and non-human types (including fashion models, typefaces, and natural history specimens) to better understand the mutually vivifying and dehumanizing potential of becoming a type and the political stakes and unexpected possibilities of objectification.
During her time as Taft Professor, Dr. Sadre-Orafai plans to create collaborations for physical and virtual exhibitions and experimentally designed publications that focus on the political stakes of visual and cultural forms of knowledge production; enlarge her engagement with broader audiences and new publics, through public writing; and training the next generation of Social Justice & Public Scholars.
To read more about Dr. Stephanie Sadre-Orafai, please visit her listing in the UC Research Directory:
https://researchdirectory.uc.edu/p/sadreose.
The Taft Professorship of Social Justice provides recognition and support of faculty that have successfully participated in socially- and/or community-engaged social science inquiry; who have demonstrated experience in public-facing, social justice scholarship; and who are prepared to speak in accessible ways to a variety of audiences, both within and outside academia.
This Professorship is awarded based on past engagement and scholarly success, and the promise of future scholarly and/or creative distinction. Faculty with a reputation for outstanding scholarly and creative work in social justice studies – broadly conceived – particularly those drawing on recent and ongoing projects that can be expected to continue into the future, will be most competitive. Taft faculty at all levels are encouraged to apply, including advanced assistant professors, associate professors, and full professors; underrepresented minorities are encouraged to apply.
This Professorship is awarded for a term of three years, during which time the selected faculty members will be expected to serve on the Taft Director’s Planning Committee and participate in some Taft activities (to be agreed upon with the Taft Director and depending upon each individual’s areas of expertise). The Taft Professor of Social Justice will receive an annual $4,000 personal research fund that they can use for their research, creative projects, and professional development. In addition, their home department will receive $4,000 per year for one course release for the Taft Fellow.