Faculty and Staff

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Assistant Professor

Office: PSY-311
Phone: 562.985.8686
Email: aresa.allen-rochester@csulb.edu

Research Interests

• African-centered Leadership (Liberatory Leadership)
• Africana Studies and Critical Consciousness
• Africana History and Counter Narrative Construction
• Black Student Achievement and Educational Equity
• Ethnic and Cultural Studies
• Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching (Pedagogy and Practice)
• Culturally Sustaining/Relevant Pedagogy and Instructional Leadership
• Transformational Leadership and School Culture
• Scholar-Practitioner Research and Praxis
• Global Black Liberation Movements
• Black Intellectual History and the History of Black Educational Thought
• African American Vernacular English / Black Language Studies
• Africana Studies as a Framework for District-Level Reform 

Education

• Ed.D., May 2009, Azusa Pacific University, Educational Leadership – Concentration:  K-12 Urban Education Cultural Relevant Instruction, Dissertation: “Voices Within the Village: A Phenomenological Study of African American Parents’ Experiences With Culturally Relevant and Responsive Education”
• M.A., May 2002, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Education – Concentration: Administration & Instruction
• M.A., May 2000, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Education – Concentration: Multicultural Education & Instruction
• B.A., December 1995, San Diego State University, Psychology & Africana Studies – Concentration: Human Development & African Diaspora

Certification

• Harvard University, 2024, Education – Concentration: Educational Leadership
• Azusa Pacific University, 2008, Education – Concentration: Educational Administrative Services Credential Tier II
• California State University, Dominguez Hills, 2002, Education – Concentration: Educational Administrative Services Credential Tier I
• California State University, Dominguez Hills, 2003, Education – Concentration: Multiple Subject Teaching Credential & CLAD

Teaching Areas

• Introduction to Racial & Ethnic Studies
• African Psychology
• Black Children in the Public School System
• Composition I and II

Professional Affiliations

• National Council of Black Studies
• Council of Black Administrators
• National Association of Black School Educators
• California Association of African American Superintendents and Administrators
• California Alliance of African American Educators

Community Affiliations

• Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
• National Council of Negro Women

Book Publication

• Who Holds the Keys?: Cultural Keys to Unlock the Door to Transformational Leadership, Roc the Pages Publishing, 2025.
• Turning the Keys: A Reflective Workbook for Leadership Transformation, Roc the Pages Publishing, Forthcoming 2026.

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Assistant Professor

Office: PSY-309
Phone: 562.985.8686
Email: eva.bohler@csulb.edu

Research Interests

• African American Intellectual Histories
• Africana Womanism
• Black women in the Civil Rights Movement
• Afrocentricity
• Politics in the African American community
• African American history
• African American literature

Education

• Ph.D., Africology and African American Studies, Temple University, 2021.

  Dissertation title: An Afrocentric Analysis of the Philosophies of Howard Thurman.

• M.A., English, Arcadia University, 2012.
• M.A., African American Studies, Temple University, 2006.
• B.A., Humanities-Prelaw, Michigan State University, 2004.

Teaching Areas

• Racial and Ethnic Studies
• Africana Womanism
• African American women in the Civil Rights Movement
• Politics in the African American community
• African American male and female relationships

Selected Publications

• "Howard Thurman's Jesus and the Disinherited as a Framework for Victory," Black Perspectives, April 13, 2023. https://www.aaihs.org/howard-thurmans-jesus-and-the-disinherited-as-a-framework-for-victory/
• "The Lyrical Activism of Sister Souljah," Black Perspectives, August 17, 2023.  https://www.aaihs.org/the-lyrical-activism-of-sister-souljah/
• "Fighting to be heard: Black women and the Suffrage Movement," ABC-CLIO.
• "It's not just a man's world: Examining the contributions of Black women to the Civil Rights Movement," ABC-CLIO.
• "Portraits of Resilience: Examining the Scholarship of Dr. Carey H. Latimore" Maa Kheru: Honoring our Ancestor’s Contributions to Africana Studies [Special Issue]. Siyabonana: The Journal of Africana Studies. Vol. 3 No. 1 (Winter 2025): 104-121 
• “Branches of Igi-Osé: The Genealogical Impact of Afrocentricity” in Afrocentricity: Generations of Theory in Practice, Edited by Aaron X. Smith. New York, NY: Universal Write Publications, 2025, pp. 19-37.
•  "The suppression of the Black Vote: Resisting today on the shoulders of the Original 33." October 30, 2025. The Researcher. Universal Write Publications. https://doi.org/10.65724/zssi8636 
• “Reflections and New Directions: Examining the Impact of Africana Womanism” in New Perspectives in Africana Studies. Edited by Crystal Edwards and Abul Pitre. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2026, pp. 107-119.
• "Portraits of Resilience: Examining the Scholarship of Dr. Carey H. Latimore," Siyabonana: The Journal of Africana Studies Special Issue: Maa Kheru: Honoring our Ancestor's Contributions to Africana Studies (forthcoming).
• "Branches from Igi Ose': The Geneological Impact of Afrocentricity," in Afrocentricity: Generations of Theory in Practice, Edited by Aaron X. Smith. New York, NY: Universal Write Publications (forthcoming).
• "Reflections and New Directions: Examining the Impact of Africana Womanism," in New Perspectives in Africana Studies: Volume 1, Edited by Crystal Edwards and Abul Pitre. Lanham, MD: Hamilton Books (forthcoming).

Podcast/Media Interviews

• "Understanding the state of Africana Studies and Civil Rights activism with Eva Bohler" on The Obehi Podcast| Life & Legacy Project. August 26, 2023.

Professional affiliations

• National Council for Black Studies

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Africologist and Assistant Professor

Office: PSY-303
Phone: 562.985.4697
Email: alice.nicholas@csulb.edu

Research

Africology / Afrocentricity, African American Studies, Ethnic and Cultural Studies, Afrocentric Womanism, Africana Womanist Studies, Harlem Renaissance, Africana Literary Traditions, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Black Poetry, Black Theatre, Afrocentric Literary Theory, Liberation Theory, Liberation Movements, Social and Political Thought, Comparative Ethnic and Global Experience

Education

• Ph.D., Africology and African American Studies, Temple University, 2019. Dissertation: Liberatory Expressions: Black Women, Resistance and the Coded Word
• M.A., Africology, California State University, Dominguez Hills, 2013.
• B.A., English Literature and African American Studies (dual major), California State University, Dominguez Hills, 1993.

Teaching Areas

• Introduction to Africana Studies
• Introduction to Racial and Ethnic Studies
• Introduction to Comparative Ethnic and Global Societies
• Introduction to African American Literature
• Africana Literary Traditions
• Key Movements: Harlem Renaissance
• Black Movements of the 1960s
• Introduction to Africana Women’s Studies
• Africana Womanism: Intellectual History
• African American Women of the Civil Rights Movement
• Africana Theatre
• African American History, Part 1
• African American Experience in the U.S.
• African World People and Societies
• Dimensions of Racism
• History and Significance of Race in America

Selected Publications

• “Zora Neale Hurston and the Coded Word,” Bethune-Cookman University (chapter in edited volume). Lexington Press (forthcoming)
• “Umfundalai: Dr. Kariamu Welsh and the Afrocentric Essence of Unity,” Siyabonana: The Journal of Africana Studies. Special Issue: Maa Kheru: Honoring our Ancestor’s Contributions to Africana Studies (forthcoming)
• “Chick Webb, The King of Swing,” Black Perspectives (African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS)), November 22, 2023. https://www.aaihs.org/chick-webb-the-king-of-swing/
• “Story #8,112,016 from 10 Million Stories; Obsidian.” Voices From Leimert Park, Redux. Shonda Buchanan (ed). Teshai Publishers / Harriet Tubman Press. Loyola Marymount University. (2017): 98-99.
• “The Hum: Creative and Covert Communication as Resistance in Africana Literature,” Imhotep: Graduate Student Journal. Temple University (2016): 104-107.
• “West Africanisms,” SAGE Encyclopedia of African Cultural Heritage in North America (2015).
• Nicholas, Alice L. “The Politics of Identity: Blurring the Lines between Africana Womanism and Black Feminism,” Imhotep. 1.1.: Graduate Student Journal. Temple University (2014): 22-26.
• “Story #4,112,011; A’ight Now,” African American Review 46.1 (2014): 145.
• “Story #4,132,011; Idioms,” African American Review 46.1 (2014): 145-146.

Archived Works

• “Week #11 Reflection. Into the Forest: Rumination of Human Stripped,” (2021, January) Autry Museum of the American West, “Collecting Community History Initiative: The West During COVID-19”
• “Week #14 Reflection. The Animal Kingdom: A Perspective on Game a Few Weeks into What Has Become the New Normal,” (2021, January) Autry Museum of the American West, “Collecting Community History Initiative: The West During COVID-19”

Creative Works - 10 Million Stories Series

• 10 Million Stories, Volume 1: Sacred Songs (1999)
• 10 Million Stories, Volume 2: Rebel Music; ditty of the determined, dreadlocked daughter of a drummer and a dreamer in the diaspora (2001)
• 10 Million Stories, Volume 3: Stereotypical Sambos (2002)
• 10 Million Stories, Volume 4: heat (2003)
• 10 Million Stories, Volume 5: Ancestral Slant (2010)
• 10 Million Stories, Volume 6: Parallel of Latitude (2011)
• 10 Million Stories, Volume 7: Wild Indigo (2011)
• 10 Million Stories, Volume 8: The Legendary Ms. Dorothy Lee Toy; A Living Biography (2012)
• 10 Million Stories, Volume 8.1: The Village Caregivers: African American Women and the Survival of the African American Community: For Clarice Brown, A Living Biography (2016)
• 10 Million Stories, Volume 9: Reflections of an Africologist (2020)
• 10 Million Stories, Volume 10: Toward our Original Selves (forthcoming)

Professional Affiliations

• National Council for Black Studies, Lifetime Member
• Diopian Institute for Scholarly Advancement, Platinum Lifetime Member

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Lecturer

Office: PSY-307
Phone: 562.985.7843
Email: uche.okafor@csulb.edu

Academic Specialties / Areas of Interest

• Africana Literature and Culture
• Africana Theories of Gender Relationships
• Third World Theories of Gender Relationships
• Freshman Composition
• Prebaccalaureate Language Skills
• Creative Writing
• Reimagining African Diaspora Families and Communities

Education Information (Degrees and Universities attended)

• Doctor of Philosophy, Literary Studies, University of Nigeria, 2006; Dissertation:  A Comparative Study of Female Characters in the novels of Buchi Emecheta, Jamaica Kincaid and Alice Walker
• Master of Arts Degree, Literature, University of Nigeria, 1993
• Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education and English, University of Nigeria, 1987

Teaching Areas

• African Literature and Culture
• African American Literature and Culture
• African American Theater
• International Black Children’s Literature
• Prebaccalaureate Language Skills
• Freshman Composition
• African American History to 1865

Professional Affiliations

• National Council for Black Studies
• Modern Language Association

Community Affiliations

• Los Angeles World Affairs Council
• Odinamba Women’s Cultural Association of Southern California

Special Distinctions

• On September 17-18 2014, Dr. Okafor participated in the World Peace Summit tagged “The Summit for the World Alliance for Religions of Peace” in Seoul South Korea. Her paper was entitled” Women as Peacemakers: The African Example”
• On February 14 2015, and June 20 2015 respectively, Dr. Okafor made guest appearances on a television show Yaba TV Show on Channel 13 KCOP Los Angeles.

Dr. Okafor's Website

• www.professorucheokafor.com

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Associate Professor 

Office: PSY-305
Phone: 562.985.8694
Email: khonsura.a.wilson@csulb.edu

Specialties

• Afrocentric Theory and Praxis
• Africana Philosophy (Aesthetics, Creativity, Spirituality, Ontology)
• African American Social Thought (17th-20th century)
• African Art and Design History
• African History and Social Thought

Education

• Temple University, Doctor of Philosophy in African American Studies, 2005. Dissertation: Makuneferu, The Truly Beautiful and Effective: An Afrocentric Study of Select 20th Century Creative Intellectuals: Towards a Portrait and Paradigm of Creative Thought and Ideal Creative Practice.
• Temple University, Master of Arts in African American Studies, 1999. Concentration: Afrocentric theory and social praxis, African creative theories, and diverse modes of creative expression.
• Rhode Island School of Design,  Master of Arts in Teaching, 1994. Advanced training in curriculum design.
• Rhode Island School of Design, Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1992. Concentrations: Printmaking, multimedia illustration, sculpture, graphic design, art history, African literature, and Ancient Mexican art and civilization.
• Brown University, Liberal Arts Courses, 1989-90. Areas of Study: African dance, Spanish culture, and language.

Courses Taught

• AFRS 110 Introduction to Africana Studies
• AFRS 150 Critical Thinking
• AFRS 155 African American Music
• AFRS 160 Introduction to Africana Art
• AFRS 255 Introduction to Hip Hop
• AFRS 330 Politics of the African American Community
• AFRS 400 African American Social Thought
• AFRS 363 African Art 

Publications

1. Wilson, K. A. (2005). Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge. In M. K. Asante & A. Mazama (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Black Studies (Vol. 1, pp. 295-297). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.
2. Wilson, K. A. (2009d). Khonsu. In M. K. Asante & A. Mazama (Eds.), Encyclopedia of African Religions (pp. 363). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.
3. Wilson, K. A. (2009k). Shedj-her-kek em Maa-aku-neferu: "Illuminating the Shadows of the African Creative Ideal" of W.E.B. DuBois. Journal of Black Studies 39(5), 744-760.
4. Wilson, K. A. (2010c). Veil and Veener of Intellectual Aesthetics. Journal of Black Studies, 40(6), 1107-1118.
5. Wilson, K.A (2013). The Cosmopolitan Creative Intellectual: The Creative Ideal of Paul Robeson. Journal of Black Studies, XX (X), 110.

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Office: PSY-306
Phone: 562.985.4624
Email: chimbuko.tembo@csulb.edu