Scholarly Retreats
Since 2014, A Studio in the Woods has hosted academics and scholars for residencies, providing a creative respite from life at the university. Current programs include:
Tulane ByWater Institute Scholarly Retreats – A Studio in the Woods and the Tulane ByWater Institute seek to enhance and support the scholarship and creativity of Tulane faculty and trainees by awarding one-week residencies. These residencies provide a retreat for faculty and trainees across disciplines to work on a discrete project or scholarly pursuit that can be new or complementary to ongoing work.
Tulane School of Liberal Arts Scholarly Retreats – Funded by the School of Liberal Arts, A Studio in the Woods hosts 4 one-week residencies for Liberal Arts faculty to write scholarly publications, work on creative projects, or begin work on a new project each academic year.
Tulane English Department Graduating Senior Retreat – Each academic year, the Tulane Department of English awards one exceptional graduating senior in the Creative Writing concentration with a three day retreat.
Xavier University Scholarly Retreats – We have partnered with Xavier University to host two Faculty Writing Retreat Fellowships each academic year.
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Scholarly Residents
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Udita Mukherjee Scholar, 2022, Louisiana Udita Mukherjee is a PhD candidate and Vokes Fellow in the Earth and Environmental Sciences department at Tulane University. She is a geologist interested in understanding how sea level has changed in the past, and the effect these changes have… -
Rachel Stein Scholar, 2022, Louisiana Rachel Stein is Research & Instruction Librarian at The Latin American Library at Tulane University. She holds a Ph.D. in Latin American and Iberian Cultures from Columbia University. Her research explores the intersections of early modern publishing and the transoceanic… -
Ned Randolph Scholar, 2022, Louisiana A former journalist and speechwriter for the mayor of New Orleans, Ned Randolph investigates intersections of power, social justice, and the environment, particularly in the Gulf South. He received his PhD in Communication from the University of California San Diego… -
Selamawit D. Terrefe Scholar, 2022, Louisiana Selamawit D. Terrefe is an Assistant Professor of African American literature and culture in the Department of English at Tulane University, where she also holds affiliations with the Africana Studies Program and the Stone Center for Latin American Studies. Before… -
Leslie Scott Scholar and Performing Artist, 2022, Louisiana Leslie Scott is a researcher of movement in the studio, classroom, screen, and sidewalk. She is an Assistant Professor of Dance and New Media at Tulane University and the founder and Artistic Director of BODYART (www.bodyartdance.com) a multi-media contemporary dance… -
Robin Runia Scholar, 2022, Louisiana Robin Runia is Associate Professor of English at Xavier University of Louisiana. She has published extensively on women’s writing of the eighteenth century. She will be examining representations of reading and friendship in women writers of the late eighteenth century… -
Daniella Mascarenhas Scholar, 2022, Louisiana Dr. Daniella Mascarenhas is an assistant professor of political science at Xavier University of Louisiana. Her research focuses on the political theory of punishment and civic education especially exploring these questions through the “Liberalism and Its Critics” movement within the… -
Jeffrey Rouse Scholar, 2022, Louisiana Dr. Jeffrey Rouse is an Assistant Professor at Tulane University in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the former elected Coroner of New Orleans. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Duke University, received his M.D. from Georgetown University,… -
Cheryl Narumi Naruse Scholar, 2022, Louisiana Cheryl Narumi Naruse (nah-roo-seh) is Assistant Professor of English at Tulane University. Her research and teaching interests include contemporary Anglophone literatures and cultures (particularly those from Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands), diasporic Asian literature, postcolonial theory, cultures of capitalism,… -
Hongwei Thorn Chen Scholar, 2022, Louisiana Hongwei Thorn Chen is a scholar of Chinese and east Asian film and media cultures. Chen’s research is interested in how institutions attempt to govern with technological media, and how media, in turn, trigger crises of governmental reason. He is… -
Douglas Ishii Scholar, 2022, Washington Douglas S. Ishii is an Assistant Professor of English at University of Washington. His research and writing theorizes Asian American relational racialization after World War II at the intersection of race and class through gender and sexuality. He previously held… -
Alexander Burin Scholar, 2021, Louisiana A professor in the School of Science and Engineering, Alexander Burin’s research is in three areas of theoretical physical chemistry. The first area involves collaborative investigation of charge and exciton transport in DNA affected by the environment (solvent), charge-induced molecular… -
Christopher Dunn Scholar, 2021, Louisiana Christopher Dunn received his Ph.D. in Luso-Brazilian Studies from Brown University in 1996, the same year he joined the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Tulane University. He holds a joint appointment with the African and African Diaspora Studies Program… -
Loren Gragert Scholar, 2021, Louisiana An Assistant Professor in the School of Medicine, Dr. Loren Gragert received his PhD in Biomedical Informatics and Computational Biology from the University of Minnesota in 2014. He was a bioinformatics scientist at National Marrow Donor Program / Be The… -
Ann Yoachim Scholar, 2021, Louisiana Ann Yoachim is a Professor of Practice at the Tulane School of Architecture and the Director of the Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design. Her research and practice focusses on the intersections of built, natural, and socially constructed… -
Mia L. Bagneris Scholar, 2021, Louisiana Associate Professor Mia L. Bagneris teaches African diaspora art history and studies of race in Western Art. She is also Director of the Africana Studies Program. Concentrating primarily on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British and American art and visual culture, much… -
Michelle Kohler Scholar, 2021, Louisiana Michelle Kohler is an Associate Professor of English with research and teaching interests in 19th-century American literature, poetry and poetics, and environmental studies. She is author of Miles of Stare: Transcendentalism and the Problem of Literary Vision in Nineteenth-Century America… -
Ross Louis Scholar, 2021, Louisiana Ross Louis is a performance scholar/artist who works as a Professor of Performance Studies and co-director of the Performance Studies Lab at Xavier University of Louisiana. In 2019, he was a faculty in residence at the Université de Lyon 3… -
Emily Elizabeth Thompson Scholar, 2021, Louisiana Emily recently completed a BA from Tulane University in English. Her work includes a personal essay called “Pretty Weird,” which was published in Ink in 2017, and a short story collection called Ugly Good, which won A Studio in the… -
Thomas Sherry Scholar, 2021, Louisiana Thomas Sherry has taught at Tulane since Spring 1989, after extensive studies at Dartmouth College (undergraduate, MS degree, and post-doc) and UCLA (Ph.D. dissertation). He is married with two grown children, and enjoys gardening, watching birds, hiking and camping, cooking,… -
Jabari Brown, Kevin Connell, Jeanne Firth and Theo Hilton Scholars, 2021, Louisiana Jabari Brown, Kevin Connell, Jeanne Firth, and Theo Hilton are scholars, farmers, food activists, and educators who have been co-creating work under the broad theme of the History of the Land. Inspired by the “History of the Land” workshop at… -
Serena Chaudhry Scholar, 2021, Louisiana Dr. Serena Chaudhry is a social worker and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Tulane and the Clinical Director of the Early Psychosis Intervention Clinic. Her professional interests focus on chronic mental illness and forced… -
Daniel B. Sharp Scholar, 2021, Louisiana Daniel B. Sharp is a music and sound scholar trained in ethnomusicology who focuses on popular and experimental music in the Americas. He is Associate Professor and Chair of Music at Tulane University, jointly appointed in Latin American Studies. His… -
Eric Herhuth Scholar, 2021, Louisiana Eric Herhuth is Assistant Professor of Communication and Director of Film Studies at Tulane University. His research areas include animation and film studies, aesthetics and politics, and media and film theory. He has published in the Quarterly Review of Film… -
Dovile Vilda Scholar, 2020, Louisiana Dovile Vilda’s academic and research background is in social policy analysis and child/youth research, and her current work examines the role of state-level policies and other social determinants on maternal and child health. She received a Ph.D. in Child &… -
José Sánchez Vera Scholar, 2020, Louisiana José Sánchez Vera is a Ph.D. Candidate at Tulane University’s Spanish and Portuguese Department. His research focuses on contemporary Mexican and Central American Literature taking the interdisciplinary point of view of ecocriticism. His dissertation explores how Mexico City’s ecological crisis… -
AnnieLaurie Erickson Visual Artist and Scholar, 2020, Lousiana AnnieLaurie Erickson is an Associate Professor and the head of photography in the Newcomb Art Department of Tulane. Her work explores how science can combine with artistic creation to probe social and environmental issues in the Gulf South through the… -
Jenny Mercein Scholar, 2020, Louisiana Jenny Mercein is an actor, teacher, writer, and director. A member of Actors Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, Jenny’s acting credits span theater, film, and television. Along with KJ Sanchez, Jenny is the co-creator of the acclaimed docudrama X’s and O’s… -
Robin Bartram Scholar, 2020, Louisiana Robin Bartram is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Tulane University. Bartram’s research focuses on cities, regulations, housing, and inequality. While in residence she worked on a book manuscript, Cities of Stacked Decks: Code Enforcement, Inequality, and Frontline Justice which… -
Arianna King Scholar, 2020, Louisiana Arianna King is an RPCV, recent Fulbright alumna, and current doctoral candidate in Tulane’s interdisciplinary City, Culture, and Community Doctoral Program. She has recently returned from a year of ethnographic fieldwork in Cape Coast, Ghana and used her time at… -
Haley Peele Scholar, 2020, Louisiana Haley Peele, M.A., M.S. is a doctoral student in school psychology at Tulane University. Her research interests include social justice oriented, strengths based interventions to disrupt the disproportionate discipline and incarceration of Black individuals and improve familial relationships. She recently… -
Laura Rosanne Adderley Scholar, 2020, Louisiana An Associate Professor of history in the School of Liberal Arts, Laura Rosanne Adderley is primarily a historian of Black experience in the Americas during the years of slavery, but is also broadly interested in African-American history, Caribbean history and… -
Andrew McDowell Scholar, 2020, Louisiana An Assistant Professor in the School of Liberal Arts, Andrew McDowell is a medical anthropologist specializing in the social worlds of tuberculosis (TB) and TB care in India. His project combines an interest in entanglements of social, bacterial, and technical… -
Larkin Page Scholar, 2020, Louisiana Dr. Larkin Page, Associate Professor/Researcher, Division of Education-Xavier University of Louisiana, holds a Ph.D. in Reading/Literacy. He is a former elementary school teacher in diverse urban settings. These experiences contribute to his research interests that in the context of Literacy/Reading… -
Riley Moran Scholar, 2020, Louisiana Riley Moran is a Floridian, a student at Tulane University, and the recipient of the 2020-21 English Department Graduating Senior Retreat at A Studio in the Woods. Her senior thesis is on the subversive political strategies of women writing the… -
Marcia Glass Scholar, 2019, Louisiana Glass used her time in residence to create a year-long curriculum in palliative care, finish editing her book with Oxford University Press, Palliative Care in Crisis Areas, publish a blog story, work on pieces for her blog on the opioid… -
Jeffrey Tasker Scholar, 2019, Louisiana A professor of neuroscience, Jeffrey Tasker used his time in residence to write a major review article focusing on rapid signaling mechanisms of a novel membrane glucocorticoid receptor and its role in affective disorders of the brain. The Tasker lab uses… -
Katharine Jack Scholar, 2019, Louisiana Katharine Jack is a primate behavioral ecologist whose research examines male reproductive strategies and hormonal correlates of male dominance rank and life history status. Jack has studied a number of different primate species throughout her career, though the bulk of… -
Erin Glackin Scholar, 2019, Louisiana Erin Glackin is a fifth-year graduate student in the School Psychology doctoral program. Her research and clinical interests center on the experience and impact of violence and other forms of trauma, particularly when experienced in early life. Ms. Glackin has… -
Sarah Garner Scholar, 2019, Louisiana Sarah E. Garner holds multiple appointments at Tulane as Director of Pathologists’ Assistant Program; Assistant Professor Department of Cell and Molecular Biology – Tulane University School of Science and Engineering; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Structural and Cellular Biology –… -
Kate Baldwin Scholar, 2019, Louisiana Kate Baldwin is a scholar and teacher who specializes in comparative literary and cultural histories. Her first book, Beyond the Color Line and the Iron Curtain: Reading Encounters between Black and Red, remaps black American modernism by addressing the involvement… -
Jessica Liddell Scholar, 2018, Louisiana Jessica Liddell participated in a scholarly retreat in fall of 2018 where she continued work on the literature review for her dissertation. Originally from Logan, Utah, Jessica Liddell completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology at Reed College, in Portland, Oregon.… -
Sarah Woodward Scholar, 2018, Louisiana Sarah Woodward worked on her disseratation in the Woods during a scholarly retreat in fall of 2018. Sarah Woodward is a proud New Orleans native. Her research interests include the intersections between art, technology, and education in improving outcomes for… -
Danica Brown Scholar, 2018, Louisiana Danica Brown worked on revising her area exam, preparing her dissertation and conducting data analysis for a research paper during a scholarly retreat in the Woods in the fall of 2018. Danica is a Ph.D. candidate in the City, Culture,… -
Adam Crosson Scholar, Visual Artist, 2018, Louisiana During a scholarly retreat in the fall of 2018 Adam Crosson worked toward completing a video work. Adam Crosson received his MFA in Sculpture + Extended Media from The University of Texas at Austin where he was a Jack G.… -
Anastasia Kurdia Scholar, 2017, Louisiana A professor in the Computer Science program of the School of Science and Engineering, Dr. Kurdia came to A Studio in the Woods to create new and engaging materials for Tulane’s CS program and adapt those materials for Engage-cs.edu, an… -
Amalia Leguizamón Scholar, 2017, Louisiana While in residence, Amalia Leguizamón worked towards completing a manuscript entitled Seeds of Power: Genetically Modified Crops and Socio-Environmental Change in Argentina. Leguizamón is a sociologist interested in the political economy of the environment in Latin America. She is curious… -
Nathan J. Lyons Scholar, 2017, Louisiana Nathan Lyons is a geomorphologist, a scientist that studies the processes and landforms at Earth’s surface. Nathan used his residency to bring together geologists and evolutionary biologists to begin a new research project. This group set out to test ideas… -
Ignacio Sarmiento Scholar, 2017, Louisiana A PhD Candidate in Spanish, Ignacio Sarmiento’s research focuses on postwar Central American literature, paying particular attention to the problems of mourning and national community in Salvadoran and Guatemalan fiction. Sarmiento used his residency to work toward completing his dissertation. -
Chris Rodning Scholar, 2017 and 2019, Louisiana All anthropologists, Christopher Rodning, Marcello Canuto, Tatsuya Murakami, and Jason Nesbitt engaged in collaborative retreats at A Studio in the Woods to explore and exchange ideas about the archaeology of monuments within cultural landscapes in the ancient Americas in both… -
Anjali Niyogi Scholar, 2017, Louisiana Dr. Anjali Niyogi, a physician, and Dr. Ashley Wennerstrom, a public health researcher and practitioner, have been collaborating successfully since 2014 to improve access to health care services for formerly incarcerated persons. Their residency was used to produce a manuscript… -
Robin Vander Scholar, 2017, Louisiana Dr. Robin Vander is a professor of English, African-American and Diaspora Studies, and Performance Studies at Xavier University. During her residency at A Studio in the Woods, Dr. Vander worked on a manuscript length book of images and essays juxtaposing… -
Cirecie A. West-Olatunji Scholar, 2017, Louisiana Focusing on the field of counselor education, Dr. West-Olatunji has initiated several clinical research projects that focus on culture-centered community collaborations designed to address issues rooted in systemic oppression, such as transgenerational trauma and traumatic stress. Dr. West-Olatunji’s residency afforded… -
Matthew Escarra Scholar, 2017, Louisiana An assistant professor in engineering physics, Matthew Escarra used his residency to create a proposal for the NSF CAREER Award, the biggest young investigator award for junior scientists and engineers. Matthew Escarra received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Princeton… -
Marcello Canuto Scholar, 2017, Louisiana All anthropologists, Rodning, Canuto, Murakami, and Nesbitt engaged in a weeklong collaborative retreat at A Studio in the Woods to explore and exchange ideas about the archaeology of monuments within cultural landscapes in the ancient Americas. Marcello A. Canuto is… -
Tatsuya Murakami Scholar, 2017, Louisiana All anthropologists, Rodning, Canuto, Murakami, and Nesbitt engaged in a weeklong collaborative retreat at A Studio in the Woods to explore and exchange ideas about the archaeology of monuments within cultural landscapes in the ancient Americas. Dr. Murakami received his… -
Jason Nesbitt Scholar, 2017, Louisiana All anthropologists, Rodning, Canuto, Murakami, and Nesbitt engaged in a weeklong collaborative retreat at A Studio in the Woods to explore and exchange ideas about the archaeology of monuments within cultural landscapes in the ancient Americas. Jason Nesbitt’s fields of… -
Ashley Wennerstrom Scholar, 2017, Louisiana Dr. Anjali Niyogi, a physician, and Dr. Ashley Wennerstrom, a public health researcher and practitioner, have been collaborating successfully since 2014 to improve access to health care services for formerly incarcerated persons. Their residency was used to produce a manuscript… -
MarkAlain Dery Scholar, 2016, Louisiana MarkAlain Dery is a physician and the founder of the Tulane T Cell Clinic who places compassion in the highest category of his professional duties. Dr. Dery used his residency to compile a collection of stories from his life and… -
Jocelyn Horner Scholar, 2016, Louisiana Jocelyn Horner studies the relationship between creative self-expression and positive development among young people. While in residence she completed data analysis for her dissertation, Digital storytelling as positive development: African American adolescent women exploring the politics and possibilities of personal… -
Sarah Gray Scholar, 2016, Louisiana Sarah Gray is a clinical psychologist with a focus on early childhood. Dr. Gray’s research examines the developmental consequences of early life adversity, with a specific focus on intergenerational processes. She takes a multilevel approach, integrating narrative, behavioral, and physiological… -
Lisa Settles Scholar, 2016, Louisiana The main focus of Dr. Lisa Settles’ clinical work is on the treatment of children under the age of six with a variety of emotional, relational, and developmental problems. Dr. Lisa Settles is the program director, lead psychologist, and grant… -
Andy Horowitz Scholar, 2015, Louisiana Andy Horowitz specializes in modern American political, cultural, and environmental history. He is writing a book which is under contract with Harvard University Press. He used his time at A Studio in the Woods to revise the manuscript and think… -
Samantha Lantz Scholar, 2015, Louisiana A behavioral ecologist, Samantha Lantz has been studying birds for over 10 years. While at A Studio in the Woods, she submitted the first chapter of her thesis for publication. The article came out in April 2016 in The Auk:… -
Kevin Morris Scholar, 2015, Louisiana Kevin Morris received his PhD in philosophy from Brown University in 2011. His research is primarily in metaphysics, the philosophy of mind, and the history of analytic philosophy. At A Studio in the Woods in fall 2015, Kevin worked on… -
Workineh Kite Scholar, 2015, Louisiana Dr. Kite and Dr. Blair used their scholarly retreat to analyze immunological data from studies on the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) which has implications for treatment of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). -
Grant McCall Scholar, 2015, Louisiana Dr. McCall and Dr. Townsend convened a two-day symposium at A Studio in the Woods bringing together scholars from the fields of philosophy and anthropology to discuss the some of the shared concerns of both fields; especially those having to… -
Mary Townsend Scholar, 2015, Louisiana Dr. McCall and Dr. Townsend convened a two-day symposium at A Studio in the Woods bringing together scholars from the fields of philosophy and anthropology to discuss the some of the shared concerns of both fields; especially those having to… -
Robert Blair Scholar, 2015, Louisiana Dr. Kite and Dr. Blair used their scholarly retreat to analyze immunological data from studies on the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) which has implications for treatment of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Dr. Blair is an Assistant professor and veterinary… -
Shivaprasad Adireddy Scholar, 2014, Louisiana As a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Dr. Adireddy used his residency to finish writing a manuscript entitled Flexible Energy Storage Devices Based on Polymer-Dielectric Nanocomposites. -
Catherine Burnette Scholar, 2014, Louisiana An assistant professor in the School of Social Work, Dr. Burnette’s research focuses on health disparities related to Indigenous Peoples. Data analysis conducted during her retreat enabled the identification of factors perpetuating violence and mental health disparities among American Indian… -
Thomas Mulligan Scholar, 2014, Louisiana A philosopher, Thomas Mulligan used his residency at A Studio in the Woods to continue work on his dissertation which sought to answer the question, “What is the role that merit should play when we choose our political leaders and… -
Apollo Nkwake Scholar, 2014, Louisiana Dr. Apollo Nkwake and Prof. Nathan Morrow both teach research methods and program evaluation at Tulane University’s Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy. While in residence, they prepared workshop tools and case studies for the American Evaluation Association as well as a… -
Courtney N. Baker Scholar, 2014, Louisiana Courtney N. Baker is a clinical psychologist interested in systems-level interventions that promote the mental health and well-being of children and families. Dr. Baker utilized her time in residence to analyze data and draft an article reporting on the reliability… -
Teresa Cole Scholar, Visual Artist, 2014, Louisiana A professor of printmaking, Teresa Cole spent her time at A Studio in the Woods continuing work on her series Seamless Belonging, an exploration of identity and place, visualized through handmade paper works. Professor Teresa Cole holds the Ellsworth Woodward… -
Nicole Burton Scholar, 2014, Louisiana Nicole Burton spent time in residence while a doctoral candidate in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She worked on her dissertation prospectus at A Studio in the Woods, which attempted to fill in a gap in the… -
Nathan Morrow Scholar, 2014, Louisiana Prof. Nathan Morrow and Dr. Apollo Nkwake both taught research methods and program evaluation at Tulane University’s Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy. While in residence, they prepared workshop tools and case studies for the American Evaluation Association as well as a…