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Arts and Social Justice Fellows Program welcomes 11 Atlanta artists to Emory classrooms this fall
A grid collage of portraits of the artists

Emory’s 2022-23 Arts and Social Justice fellows are (top, L-R) Kacie Willis, T. Lang, David Perdue and Sierra King; (center, L-R) Juel D. Lane, John Edward Doyle Jr. and Leo Briggs (photo by Walter Apps); (bottom, L-R) Jessica Hill, Mark Kendall, Amina S. McIntyre and Alex Mari.

Emory’s Arts and Social Justice (ASJ) Fellows Program enters its third year of programming, welcoming 11 Atlanta-based artists to classes across the university this fall. The cohort of artists includes Leo Briggs, John E. Doyle Jr., Mark Kendall, Jessica Hill, Sierra King, Juel Lane, T. Lang, Alex Mari, Amina McIntyre, David Perdue and Kacie Willis.  

Each fellow is paired with an Emory faculty member from across the university, including teachers from Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Goizueta Business School and Oxford College. The artists work with their faculty partners to reimagine an existing course, injecting a creative approach to addressing social justice issues that surface within class conversations.  

“We are thrilled that in the third year of this program we are able to expand participation of students, faculty and artists so substantially,” says Kevin C. Karnes, associate dean for the arts and co-director of the ASJ program.  

The ASJ Fellows Program is supported by Emory College, Emory Arts, Emory Center for Ethics, Science Gallery Atlanta, Nat Robertson Fund in Science and Society, Goizueta Business School and the lululemon Centre for Social Impact.  

“This year’s cohort will build upon the work of previous years to bridge transformative teaching with creativity to connect our students’ education with opportunities to more deeply and courageously connect with the Atlanta community and the pressing issues we face in society,” says Carlton Mackey, co-director of the ASJ program.  

The artists, faculty and students will reveal the results of their fall semester work on Tuesday, Dec. 6, at the Switchyards Downtown Club. The exhibition will be free and open to the public. 


Courses and faculty/artist pairings 

Introduction to Sociology
Devon Goss, assistant professor of sociology, with Leo Briggs, choreographer 

Discipline of Ethnomusicology/Ethnography
Meredith Schweig, assistant professor of ethnomusicology, with John E. Doyle Jr., storyteller and actor 

Film, Media and the Art of Social Change 
Edward Queen, director of the Ethics and Servant Leadership Program, Emory Center for Ethics, with Mark Kendall, comedian 

Business and Society 
Wes Longhofer, executive academic director of the Business & Society Institute, Goizueta Business School, with Jessica Hill, improviser and applied theater practitioner, and Kacie Willis, podcaster 

Emory University Symphony Orchestra 
Paul Bhasin, director of orchestral studies, music, with Sierra King, artist and archivist  

Hip Hop Dance and Identity  
Julio Medina, assistant professor of dance, with Juel D. Lane, choreographer  

Photography II  
Joel Silverman, adjunct professor of film and media, with T. Lang, choreographer, dancer and associate professor of dance at Spelman College 

History of Antisemitism 
Ellie Schainker, Arthur Blank Family Foundation Associate Professor of Modern European Jewish History with Alex Mari, durational artist 

Bioethics and Vulnerable Populations: A Historical Perspective 
Eladio Abreu, senior lecturer of biology with Amina S. McIntyre, playwright 

Human Flourishing: Imagine a Just City  
Micaela Martinez, assistant professor of biology with David Perdue, stand-up comedian



About the Arts and Social Justice Fellows program 

Amid a groundswell of national attention to racial and social injustice in the summer of 2020, Emory professors and students joined with Atlanta artists later that fall to explore how creative thinking and artistic expression can inspire change.  

A partnership between Emory Arts of Emory College of Arts and Sciences and the Ethics and the Arts program of the Emory University Center for Ethics, the Arts and Social Justice Fellows (ASJ) program was envisioned as an opportunity for faculty members to work alongside partnered ASJ Fellows to embed creative projects that reflect on social inequities into existing courses across the Emory curriculum. Throughout the program, the full cohort of faculty, artist fellows and their students will gather to learn about each other’s work and to exchange ideas across campus about the arts and social justice. The semester concludes with a public unveiling and citywide conversation to collectively consider the completed projects and the questions they raised. 


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