People
Bill Bamberger
Instructor
Photographer Bill Bamberger is known for the innovative ways he has engaged whole communities in the production of his work. His projects explore large social issues of our time by looking at how they are manifest in our families and communities.
Wesley Hogan
Director, Center for Documentary Studies
Wesley Hogan is the director of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and teaches the history of youth social movements, African American history, women’s history and oral history.
Kelly Alexander
Instructor
Kelly Alexander is a writer based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She is a consulting editor to Saveur magazine and the author of numerous feature stories for that publication.
John Biewen
Audio Program Director/Instructor
John Biewen is audio program director at CDS and host of the Center’s audio documentary podcast, Scene on Radio. During a thirty-year career as a public radio journalist and documentary-maker, he has told stories from forty American states and from Europe, Japan, and India.
Lana Garland
Instructor
Lana Garland has worked as a Creative Director, Director, and Writer/Producer in television and film in the US and Europe. Her work has included content for HBO, BET, and ESPN in America, and TV2 in Denmark.
Jaki Shelton Green
Instructor
Jaki Shelton Green is a writer and poet, a North Carolina native whose publications include Dead on Arrival, Dead on Arrival and New Poems, Masks, Conjure Blues, singing a tree into dance, breath of the song, Blue Opal (a play), and Feeding the Light.
Alex Harris
Professor of the Practice/Hine Fellows
Alex Harris is a photographer, writer, and teacher. He has photographed for extended periods in Cuba, the Inuit villages of Alaska, the Hispanic villages of northern New Mexico, and across the American South. He has taught at Duke for more than three decades through the Sanford School, the Center for Documentary Studies, and the Master of Fine Arts in Experimental and Documentary Arts Program.
Gary Hawkins
Visiting Lecturer in Film at CDS and AMI
Gary Hawkins is a writer and filmmaker whose work traverses many genres, fiction and nonfiction, experimental and traditional, finding its expression in a variety of forms – essay, prose, installation and cinema.
Katie Hyde
Instructor
Katie Hyde is the director of Literacy Through Photography (LTP), a program based at the Center for Documentary Studies. In this capacity, she works closely with undergraduate students, community volunteers, and teachers and students in the Durham Public Schools.
Elena Rue
Lewis Hine Documentary Fellow 2005-2006, Project Manager, Instructor
Elena Rue completed the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) Certificate program offered in conjunction with Duke Continuing Studies.
Deirdre Haj
Director, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
At Full Frame, Deirdre implemented free year-round screenings, the “Teach the Teachers” program and lending library, “The School of Doc” and the “A&E IndieFilms Speakeasy”.
Lisa McCarty
Curator of the Archives of Documentary Arts, Instructor
Lisa McCarty’s work as a photographer, filmmaker, curator, and educator is driven by her interest in the origins of photography. She is particularly interested in how technology influences image production, as well as the material and associative evolution of images.
Caitlin Margaret Kelly
Director, Power Plant Gallery
Caitlin Margaret Kelly is an artist, runner, and devout coffee drinker. She is Director of the Power Plant Gallery at Duke University.
Xaris Martínez
Assistant to the Director
Xaris Martínez (pronounced HA-ri'z) was born in California, grew up in Guatemala, and returned to the Golden State to work full-time at research libraries while getting a bachelor's degree in history at UCLA.
Lani Simeona
Production Co-Director, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Lani Simeona is the Production Co-Director for the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Lani joined the Full Frame team in 2007 as Office Manager, became the Artist Services Coordinator and Communications Manager in 2011, and Production Co-Director in 2014. As Production Co-Director, she is responsible for festival and year-round ticketing, volunteer selection and training, filmmaker transportation and lodging, venue selection and build out, and technical and IT support. Prior to Full Frame, Lani studied film and theater at Florida State University and the University of Central Florida, was a tour guide and trainer for the Walt Disney World Resort, and spent 10 years in music retail management, merchandising, and music buying before making the move from Florida to Durham, North Carolina.
Liz Phillips
Communications Director
Elizabeth (Liz) Phillips is communications director at the Center for Documentary Studies. This is her second stint at CDS; in 1993, while working as a writer/editor at a government-issue government job in D.C., a friend told her about a new magazine starting up at a place called the Center for Documentary Studies.
Chris Sims
Director of Undergraduate Education/Lecturing Fellow
Christopher Sims is the Undergraduate Educator Director at the Center for Documentary Studies and a Lecturing Fellow in Documentary Arts. He has worked as a photo archivist at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and, at CDS, has coordinated the exhibition, awards, and web programs.
Sadie Tillery
Director of Programming, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Sadie Tillery is the Director of Programming of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Sadie joined the Programming Department in 2005 and became Director in 2008.
Alexa Dilworth
Publishing Director and Senior Editor
Alexa Dilworth is publishing director and senior editor at the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) at Duke University, where she also directs the awards program, which includes the CDS/Honickman First Book Prize in Photography, the CDS Documentary Essay Prize in Writing and Photography, and the Dorothea Lange–Paul Taylor Prize.
Charlie Thompson
Professor of the Practice of Cultural Anthropology and Documentary Studies
Charles D. Thompson, Jr. is Professor of the Practice of Cultural Anthropology and Documentary Studies at Duke University. A common thread through his work is a deep concern for people doing their all to have a voice in our agricultural systems.
Jenna Kruger
Social Media and Digital Projects Manager
Jenna Kruger is the Social Media and Digital Projects Manager at the Center for Documentary Studies. A native North Carolinian raised in Raleigh, she received her BA in Communications with a concentration in Broadcast and New Media studies from Elon University in 2013.
Kathryn Banas
Senior Development Associate
Kathryn Banas, Senior Development Associate at CDS, hails from a New Orleans suburb. She attended Sarah Lawrence College before transferring to Northwestern University, where she graduated summa cum laude with a Communication Studies degree.
Whitney Baker
Web Design and Production Manager
Whitney is a writer, programmer and all-around multimedia storyteller with a passion for local, community-driven stories. She received a bachelor's in multimedia journalism and Spanish from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2011, where she was also able to experience the glorious life of a theater technician, travel through South America and learn to make balloon animals.
Greg Britz
Associate Director for Operations and Finance
Office
1317 W. Pettigrew St. L205
Phone
(919) 660-3658
Harlan Campbell
Photography and Digital Arts Associate
Harlan Campbell is the photography and digital arts associate at the Center for Documentary Studies. He has a degree in photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Caitlin Johnson
Digital Arts & Publishing Intern
Office
1317 W. Pettigrew St. L204B
Phone
(919) 660-3685
Marc Maximov
Continuing Education Coordinator
Office
1317 W. Pettigrew St. L304
Phone
(919) 660-3678
Quadiriah McCullough
Operations Coordinator
Office
1317 W. Pettigrew St. L115
Phone
(919) 660-3677
Lynn McKnight
Associate Director for Programs and Development
Office
1317 W. Pettigrew St. L203
Phone
(919) 660-3654
Tom Rankin
Professor of the Practice/Director, MFAEDA
Tom Rankin is Professor of the Practice of Art and Documentary Studies at Duke University where he directs the MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts. For 15 years he was director of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke. Rankin is formerly Associate Professor of Art and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi and Chair of the Art Department at Delta State University.
Courtney Reid-Eaton
Exhibitions Director
Office
1317 W. Pettigrew St. L112
Phone
(919) 660-3664
Tim Tyson
Senior Scholar (Prof of Divinity and History)
Timothy B. Tyson is Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, Visiting Professor of American Christianity and Southern Culture at Duke Divinity School, and adjunct professor of American Studies at the University of North Carolina.
April Walton
Learning Outreach Director
Office
1317 W. Pettigrew St. L301
Phone
(919) 660-3670
Michelle Lanier
Instructor
Michelle Lanier, director of North Carolina’s African American Heritage Commission, has been an instructor at CDS since 2000. She uses her background as an oral historian and folklorist to connect communities around personal narratives and cultural expression.
Barbara Lau
Instructor
Barbara Lau is director of the Pauli Murray Project at the Duke Human Rights Center, an effort to activate history for social change inspired by the life and legacy of activist, poet, lawyer and Episcopal priest Pauli Murray.
Karen Price
Instructor
In addition to teaching, Price directs the Duke in Los Angeles undergraduate semester away program. She received an MFA in production from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, an MA in creative writing and English from Hollins University, and an AB in English and political science from Duke.
Margaret Sartor
Instructor
Margaret Sartor is a photographer and writer whose past projects include What Was True: The Photographs and Notebooks of William Gedney (with co-editor Geoff Dyer) and the best-selling memoir Miss American Pie: A Diary of Love, Secrets, and Growing up in the 1970s.
Diane Britz Lotti
Board of Directors, Chair
Diane Britz Lotti is Chairman of American Capital Partners, an international investment company with investments in Europe, South America, and the United States.
Peter Lange
Board of Directors, Vice Chair
Peter Lange joined the Department of Political Science at Duke University in 1981 after a previous teaching position at Harvard University.
Linda Burton
Board of Directors
Linda M. Burton is Dean of Social Sciences and James B. Duke Professor of Sociology at Duke University.
William H. Chafe
Board of Directors
William H. Chafe attended Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude in history (1962), and Columbia University, where he received his Ph.D. in American history (1971).
Robert Fippinger
Board of Directors
Robert A. Fippinger was recently named Chief Legal Officer for the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. He will be responsible for overseeing market regulation, communications, education and outreach, and legislative affairs.
Kimberly Jenkins
Board of Directors
Kimberly Jenkins currently serves as an active board member, angel investor, and coach to several early-stage companies in Durham/RTP and Silicon Valley.
Joy Kasson
Board of Directors
Joy Kasson is Professor of American Studies and English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her teaching includes undergraduate and graduate courses on visual culture and American Studies, American cultural history, and American literature.
Randall Kenan
Board of Directors, Fall 2002-Spring 2003 Lehman Brady Professor
Randall Kenan is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UNC–Chapel Hill. His first novel, A Visitation of Spirits, was published by Grove Press in 1989.
Dan Logan
Board of Directors
Dan Logan is president of the Reva and David Logan Foundation, based in Chicago, which funds projects in the arts and investigative reporting and for community organizing, education, and social justice, and oversaw the design and construction of the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at th
W. Joseph Mann
Board of Directors
Joe Mann is a United Methodist minister who has spent most of his professional life in work related to Duke University. After serving as a minister in Wilmington, he went to North Carolina State University as a campus minister.
Thomas Mann
Board of Directors
Thomas (Tom) Mann is retired Associate Dean for Finance and Administration in Arts and Sciences and Trinity College at Duke University. He served in this role managing budgets and finance from 1982 until 2007, working with seven Arts and Sciences deans.
Charmain McKissick-Melton
Board of Directors
S. Charmaine McKissick-Melton is Associate Professor and Interim Chair in the Department of Mass Communication at North Carolina Central University. She was previously at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina.
James Peacock
Board of Directors
James L. Peacock is Kenan Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Professor of Comparative Literature, Co-Director of the Duke–UNC Rotary Center for Peace and Conflict, and Chair of World View at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his B.A.
Barry Poss
Board of Directors
Barry Poss is former President and Chairman of Sugar Hill Records, a company he founded in 1978.
Sally Dalton Robinson
Board of Directors
Sally Robinson is a lifelong resident of Charlotte. She has had a love affair with Duke University ever since she came with her family to Duke football games in the early 1940s.
Alan Teasley
Board of Directors
Alan B. Teasley holds B.A., M.A.T., and Ph.D. degrees from UNC–Chapel Hill. The Durham native recently completed a three-year stint as director of Duke’s Master of Arts in Teaching Program.
Kevin Tolson
Board of Directors
Kevin A. Tolson works in Brand Marketing Management for Unilever and is a current M.B.A. student at the New York University Stern School of Business specializing in Strategy.
Marie Washington
Board of Directors
Marie Washington has held senior financial leadership positions within the corporate and nonprofit sectors in New York City and San Francisco over her thirty-year professional career.
Kate Rogers
Programming Coordinator, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Kate Rogers is the Programming Coordinator of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Prior to joining the programming department in October 2016, Kate was the Department Coordinator of Moving Image at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Michelle Benham
Director of Marketing, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Michelle Benham is the director of marketing at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. With a background in nonfiction multimedia production, communications, and community outreach, she is interested in connecting people through storytelling.
Suzanne Spignesi
Development and Educational Programs Manager, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Suzanne Spignesi is the Development and Educational Programs Manager at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Suzanne manages Full Frame’s development office, which oversees sponsorships, individual giving, and grants, and she also manages Full Frame’s educational programs. Suzanne graduated from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in Philosophy, and spent the following two years as a Teach For America corps member and teacher in the Philadelphia school district. While teaching, she earned a Master’s of Science in Education from the University of Pennsylvania. Suzanne joined the Full Frame team after completing her service with Teach for America, and is currently pursuing her M.B.A at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business as a member of the Weekend Executive program. Suzanne lives in Raleigh, and enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants, and doing improv comedy.
Dan Partridge
Production Co-Director, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Dan Partridge is the Production Co-Director for the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. He has served as the Research Associate for The Jazz Loft Project at the Center for Documentary Studies, beginning in 2003. From 2000-2002, he was the CDS Exhibitions and Public Programs Assistant.