Faculty Recognitions
New Tenure-Track Faculty
Elise Blasingame, PhD
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Elise received her PhD in American Politics from the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia (2025). Her research focuses on issues of representation, Native American politics, and American political institutions. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Blasingame built a career in public service, holding multiple leadership roles at organizations such as Advance Native Political Leadership and The Carter Center. Dr. Blasingame’s research has been published in the American Political Science Review, Political Research Quarterly, Political Science Research & Methods and the American Journal of Public Health.
Ross Cawthon, PhD
Assistant Professor of Physics
Ross earned his PhD in Astronomy & Astrophysics from the University of Chicago (2018). He then did postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was an assistant professor at William Jewell College. Ross is a cosmologist who works with the international Dark Energy Survey. His work focuses on the statistical properties of the distribution of galaxies, known as ‘large-scale structure’, which provide information on the behavior of dark energy and dark matter. His research has been published in journals such as Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Physical Review, and Astronomy & Astrophysics. He has also written several articles for the public about his research on the Dark Energy Survey website (“The Darchives”). He next plans to work with the newly built Vera Rubin Observatory.
Danielle Griffin, PhD
Assistant Professor of English
Danielle earned her PhD in English from the University of Maryland (2022) and then worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the teaching of writing at the University of Delaware. Her research interests are focused on histories of rhetorical theory and literacy in the early modern period, feminist rhetoric, and labor/working-class studies. She has published in Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric and co-edited the collection Feminist Circulations: Rhetorical Explorations Across Space and Time, and her work will soon appear in Technical Communication Quarterly. She teaches a variety of courses related to writing and rhetoric, including the history of rhetorical theory, professional writing, feminist theory, and archival research for undergraduate students.
Lyndsey Prosser, PhD
Assistant Teaching Professor of Chemistry
Lyndsey received her PhD in Chemistry from Emory University (2025). Prior to coming to Oxford College, she worked as a teaching assistant in multiple chemistry courses at Emory and was the recipient of the Citizen Scholar Quayle Award and the ACS Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Recognition Program for her leadership in mentoring undergraduate students. Her thesis work at Emory pertained to the chemical modification of arginine in peptides and proteins. Her articles have been published in journals such as Organic Letters and the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Promoted Faculty
Associate Professor of MESAS and Arabic
Anouar El Younssi holds a BA in English & Linguistics from Abdelmalek Essaadi University in Tetouan, Morocco, an MA in English from St. Bonaventure University in upstate New York, and a PhD in Comparative Literature from Pennsylvania State University. His scholarly work explores the wave of literary innovation in Arabic literatures, with a focus on Morocco and the Maghreb region. His research seeks to consolidate critical work on literary modernity and the avant-garde in their Arabic and North African versions. He is the author of The Experimental Turn in the Moroccan Novel, 1976-1989 (Routledge, 2025) as well as several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in such academic fields as Comparative & World Literature, Middle Eastern Studies, and Amazigh Studies. At Oxford, Dr. El Younssi offers a variety of courses in Arabic and MESAS (Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies).
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Jessica Ham holds undergraduate degrees in anthropology and English (University of Missouri), a MA in development studies, (University of Sussex), and a PhD in environmental anthropology (University of Georgia). At Oxford she teaches courses that center human experiences as bio-culturally shaped. As a field-based researcher, her work broadly addresses rural life and wellbeing in northern Ghana, a context of dynamic environmental change. Her publications to date elevate cultural perspectives in the conceptualization of food insecurity. Forthcoming publications address the politics of the commons and connections across human health and soil health. The aggregation of nearly two years of fieldwork in Ghana is further developing a book project (“Who Knows Tomorrow?”: Slow Enclosure and the Pursuit of Agrarian Justice in Northern Ghana).
Associate Professor of English
Sarah Higinbotham holds a PhD in Renaissance Literature from Georgia State University with specialties in literature and human rights, legal history, and critical prison theory. She has published a book with Oxford University Press, twelve articles and book chapters, and has two articles and a second book forthcoming. She co-founded the Georgia nonprofit Common Good Atlanta, which offers accredited college courses inside eight Georgia prisons, and where Oxford students and faculty contribute meaningfully. She serves on the executive committee of the Folger Shakespeare Library and as one of five citizen advisors to the Georgia Commissioner for the Department of Corrections. Her work has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, Georgia Humanities, and Atlanta United MLS.
Associate Professor of Biology
Emily McLean earned her PhD in Genetics and Genomics from Duke University in 2018. Her research investigates the evolutionary causes and consequences of social behavior, with a particular focus on indirect genetic effects—how the genotype of one individual can influence the phenotypes (including behavior and evolutionary fitness) of others. At Oxford, she teaches introductory biology for both majors and non-majors, participates in the Discovery Seminar program, and has mentored over 25 students in independent research. She is an author of more than ten peer-reviewed journal articles and her collaborative work with students and colleagues has been published in journals such as The American Naturalist, Evolution, and Science.
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Simba Nkomo earned his PhD in Physical Chemistry from West Virginia University, an MEd in Science and Mathematics Education, and a BS in Chemistry and Mathematics from the University of Zimbabwe. His research employs experimental and theoretical models to investigate the emergence of complex synchronization patterns in small networks and to predict chemical toxicity of compounds. He is also interested in curriculum development and innovation in chemical education. His work is published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Nature Physics, Physical Review Letters, Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, and the Journal of Chemical Education. Dr. Nkomo received Oxford’s 2025 Mizell Award for Excellence in Teaching and the MERCURY Consortium’s 2024 Poster Session Faculty Mentor Award.
Associate Teaching Professor of Spanish
Cristina Tarazona earned her BA in English and German from the University of Valencia, Spain, and two MAs in Applied Linguistics from Georgia State University, with concentrations in Spanish and German. In addition, she holds certifications in Spanish-English translation and medical interpretation. Cristina has taught a variety of Spanish courses and has developed experiential offerings, such as a travel course to Peru, a theater-focused course, and a medical Spanish internship. Her academic interests include the intersection between language pedagogy and community engagement, and she has co-authored several scholarly articles on the use of virtual language exchanges for linguistic and cross-cultural development. Since 2023 she has served as Secretary of the Georgia Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, and has been co-chair of Oxford Studies at Oxford College since 2021.