The Cultures of the Americas office is located in Centreville 1103.
The phone number is (301) 314-1513.

Dr. Sangeeta Ray
Faculty Director
E-mail: rays@umd.edu

Degree: Ph.D. University of Washington, 1991
Book: En-Gendering India: Woman and Nation in Colonial and Postcolonial            Narratives (Duke, 2000).
Edition: A Companion to Postcolonial Studies (with Henry Schwarz, 2000).

         Dr. Ray is the author of numerous articles and reviews in such collections and journals as Gender and Studies, Ariel, and Genders. Her prizes and awards include a NEH summer grant from Brown University in 1994; a Lilly Teaching Fellowship from 1994 to 1995; the UM Woman of Color Award in 1997, and was nominated for the Outstanding Faculty Award by the College Park Association of Parents in 1992. She has been the director of the Asian-American Studies Certificate Program since 1997, and is an Editorial Consultant for Feminist Studies.

Delores Phillips
Acting Director
E-mail: dbp@umd.edu

        Delores Phillips is a PhD Candidate in English working on her dissertation under Dr. Ray’s directorship. Her work focuses on biographical cookbooks written by members of the postcolonial diaspora and compares the writers’ experiences to food images in postcolonial literature. She earned her M.A. in English at UMCP, along with her Critical Theory Certificate. Her teaching experience includes work for the Department of English, where she taught First Year Composition, Shakespearean, and British Literature from 1800 to present, but also includes full-time teaching positions at Morgan State University and Anne Arundel Community College. Her full-time teaching has involved the use of multimedia and service learning as integral components of classroom instruction.

Gary Ford
Assistant Director
E-mail: gmkd@optonline.net

        Gary is enrolled in the PhD Program in American Studies. Prior to entering the Program, he obtained an MFA in Creative Writing from New School University, a JD from Columbia Law School, and a BA in Afro-American Studies from Harvard University.
        Gary's prior teaching experience includes two terms as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in African American Studies at the University of Maryland and two years as a teacher in the UPWARD BOUND Program at Fairfield University.

Schuyler Esprit
Assistant Director
E-mail: sesprit@umd.edu

Schuyler Esprit is a PhD Candidate in the department of English and Comparative Literature. She studies postcolonial literature and theory, with a focus on Caribbean studies. Her other research interests include African literature, African American literature, gender and minority studies and critical theory. She has taught Freshman Writing and various introductory literature courses with the English department. Schuyler is currently working on her dissertation, which focuses on readers of Caribbean literature and the various reading cultures and communities in the Caribbean Diaspora. When she's not working on the dissertation, Schuyler enjoys music, traveling and cooking.