Our faculty members and affiliates are integral to our mission of studying the causes and consequences of inequality and developing remedies for these disparities and their adverse effects.
Diversity Initiative for Tenure in Economics (DITE)
The Diversity Initiative for Tenure in Economics (DITE) is a dedicated program aiming to enhance diversity within the realm of economics.
Through this initiative, we support and uplift scholars from diverse backgrounds, fostering an inclusive academic community.
Faculty Affiliates
Our faculty affiliates engage in equity-related research initiatives and actively contribute to projects within the Cook Centerâs research themes.
Nancy MacLean
Nancy MacLean is an award-winning scholar of the twentieth-century U.S., whose most recent book, Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Rightâs Stealth Plan for America, a finalist for the National Book Award in Nonfiction and a New York Times bestseller, won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Current Interest, the Lannan Foundation Cultural Freedom Award, and the Lillian Smith Book Award for writing about the South. MacLean is the author of four other books, including Freedom is Not Enough: The Opening of the American Workplace (2006) called by the Chicago Tribune “contemporary history at its best,â and Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan, named a New York Times “noteworthy” book of 1994. Her articles and review essays have appeared in American Quarterly, The Boston Review, Feminist Studies, Gender & History, In These Times, International Labor and Working-Class History, Labor, Labor History, Journal of American History, Journal of Womenâs History, Law and History Review, The Nation, The New Republic, the Progressive and many edited collections. Often on the radio, she has also been a frequent guest on such cable shows as Democracy Now! Real Time with Bill Maher, and the ReidOut with Joy Reid. Professor MacLeanâs scholarship has received more than a dozen prizes and awards and been supported by fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Humanities Center, the Russell Sage Foundation, PolicyLink, and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowships Foundation. In 2010, she was elected a fellow of the Society of American Historians, which recognizes literary distinction in the writing of history and biography.
Omari H. Swinton
Omari H. Swinton is a professor in the Economics department at Howard University where he teaches introductory, intermediate, and urban economics. He is currently the Director of Graduate Studies and Chair. Additionally, he serves as Division Chair for the Social Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. His research interests include labor economics and education. He has papers examining the teenage labor market, the benefits from attending HBCUâs, and the returns to a college education. He coauthored a report for NAFEO entitled âThe State of Blacks in Higher Education.â And has a published a book on HBCUs titled âVital and Valuable: The Relevance of HBCUs to American Life and Education.â He currently is working on projects that examine the returns to effort for students, the obstacles to faculty diversity in higher education, and benefits of attending an HBCU.
He is the director of the AEA Summer Training Program and Scholarship Program which has increased diversity in the field of economics by preparing talented undergraduates for doctoral programs in economics and related disciplines. He is Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Phi Beta Sigma Federal Credit Union. Dr. Swinton owns a Right at Home Franchise in Baltimore, Maryland that was just recognized for its performance as a Presidentâs Circle Member. He earned his B.S. from Florida A & M University in 2001, and his doctoral degree from Duke University in 2007. He resides in Upper Marlboro, MD with his wife, Phyllis, and four children, Omari Jr., Nyla, Jamir, and Nasir.
Omer Ali
Omer Ali is an assistant professor of economics working on topics in economic history, political economy, and urban economics, with a focus on racial inequality. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to joining the department, he was a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at Duke University.
Paul A. Robbins
Paul Robbins is a developmental scientist who investigates the psychosocial processes by which context, culture, and identity mitigate or exacerbate inequitable health and educational outcomes at various life stages. Specifically, his work examines the developmental contexts and consequences of engagement in sports, families, and religious institutions to identify mechanisms that ensure optimal wellbeing within these spaces.
Prentiss Dantzler
Prentiss Dantzler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Founding Director of the Housing Justice Lab within the School of Cities at the University of Toronto (UofT). He also holds affiliations with the Infrastructure Institute, the Centre for Global Social Policy, and the Graduate Department of Geography and Planning at UofT. As an interdisciplinary community-engaged scholar, Dantzler’s work focuses on how and why neighborhoods change and how community members, institutions, and policy actors create and react to those changes. Dantzler received his Ph.D. in Public Affairs along with a M.S. in Community Development from Rutgers University-Camden. He also holds an M.P.A. (Urban and Regional Planning & GIS) from West Chester University and a B.S. (Energy, Business and Finance) from Penn State University.
He is a member of the “Policing, Enforcement and Justice” working group at the Cook Center.
Raffi E. GarcĂa
Raffi E. GarcĂa is an Assistant Professor of Finance and Accounting in the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His research interests are in the fields of financial economics, corporate finance and empirical industrial organization. GarcĂaâs research focuses on measuring and understanding the effects of regulations and unexpected events or shocks on firm behavior, strategy and performance. He has presented his work at major academic conferences, including the American Economic Association (AEA), the Royal Economic Society (RES), the International Industrial Organization (IIOC), and the Econometric Society (ES)-Latin America and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) annual conferences. He is the recipient of multiple research and travel grants including the Rosenberg Institute of Global Finance Research Grant and the AEA Economics Mentoring Program Travel Grant (sponsored by the National Science Foundation). While completing his PhD, he was awarded dissertation fellowships by the American Economic Association and by the American Society of Hispanic Economists (ASHE).
GarcĂa received his PhD in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis University in 2018.
Ronda Taylor Bullock
With a critical race theory lens, Dr. Ronda Taylor Bullock studies whiteness and white childrenâs racial identity construction. She uses education as a means to provide racial equity trainings and programs for youth, parents, and educators. Two of her publications include Racial Identity Construction: A Critical Analysis of White Children Recognizing, Reifying, and Resisting Whiteness, and Raising Conscious Kids: A Community-based Approach.
Sandra Barnes
Rev. Dr. Sandra L. Barnes is an ordained minister, C.V. Starr Professor, and Chair of the Dept. of Sociology at Brown University. Her areas of research and teaching include sociology of religion; inequality, as it pertains to race, class, and gender; urban sociology; statistics; and African American studies. Dr. Barnesâ most recent book, From Jesus to J-Setting: Religious and Sexual Fluidity among Black Young People (University of Georgia Press 2023) chronicles the religious experiences of young Black people with diverse sexual identities. The book examines how the intersection of racial, sexual, gender, and religious identities influence self-expression and lifestyle modalities. Narratives illumine a continuum of decisions – from more traditional (i.e., Black Church participation) to non-traditional (i.e., dancing known as J-Setting and spirituality) – and the corresponding beliefs, values, and experiences that emerge under the ever-present specter of racism, homophobia, heterosexism, and for many, ageism. This mixed-methodological study considers the experiences of 236 young persons who describe efforts to negotiate racially- and sexually-charged spaces in search of security, stability, and safety.
