Meltem Safak
Instructor of American Studies and Humanities
Morganton
Joined NCSSM in July 2023
Meltem Şafak joined NCSSM in July 2023 as an Instructor of American Studies and Humanities on our Morganton campus. She earned her doctorate in the Department of Comparative Literature and Intercultural Studies at the University of Georgia with a focus on memory in Armenian and Turkish literatures. While at UGA, she taught a range of courses as a graduate teaching assistant and part-time instructor, including World Literature, Black Diaspora Literature, and Multiethnic American Literature. Her research interests include genocide studies, 19th- and 20th-century Ottoman history and literature, gender and identity studies, and diaspora studies. Meltem grew up in Turkey, and the multicultural nature of the region influenced her academic interests. She wrote about male hysteria in the 19th-century Ottoman novels, shared urban spaces of Ottoman-Muslim and Ottoman-Armenian communities, and the literary transformation of Armenian diasporic and Turkish national narratives. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Turkish language and literature at Boğaziçi University, her master’s degree in cultural studies at Istanbul Şehir University, and a second master’s in comparative history at Central European University. Meltem is an avid reader with a special interest in detective fiction. She also enjoys traveling, knitting, and painting.
BA, Turkish Language and Literature, Boğaziçi University
MA, Cultural Studies, Istanbul Şehir University
MA, Comparative History, Central European University
PhD, Comparative Literature and Intercultural Studies, University of Georgia
Humanities
Nadiyah Aamer
Instructor of Spanish
Layla Aldousany
Instructor of American Studies and Humanities
Carrie Alter
Instructor of Studio Art
Marcelo Aranda
Instructor of American Studies and Humanities; Faculty Senate Chair
Kate Axelrod
Program Associate
Erudiel Bernal
Instructor of World Languages
Jay Bonner
Instructor of American Studies
Sarah Booker
Instructor of World Languages
Michelle Brenner
Instructor of Humanities
David Cantrell
Instructor of Humanities
Jane Cantwell
Instructor of American Studies and Humanities
Kristin Connor
Instructor of Spanish
Chad Cygan
Instructor of Choral Music
Christy Davenport
Instructor of American Studies and Humanities
Katy Doll
Instructor of American Studies
David Dry
Instructor of American Studies and Humanities
Mark Dubois
Instructor of Humanities
Alexa Garvoille
Instructor of American Studies and Humanities
Fiona Gillespie
Instructor of Spanish
Neal Keesee
Instructor of American Studies and Humanities
Chad Keister
Instructor of Economics and Social Science
Jim Kirkpatrick
Instructor of Music
Fayez Kurdi
Instructor of World Languages
Scott Laird
Instructor of Music and Chair of Fine Arts (Durham/Morganton)
Hong Li
Instructor of Chinese
Courtney Long
Instructor of Visual Arts
Blake Madden
Instructor of Photography
Margaret McDowell
Instructor of American Studies and Humanities
Tatiana McInnis
Instructor of American Studies and Humanities
Lindsay Metivier
Instructor of Photography
Ormand Moore
Instructor of Humanities
Amanda Moulder
Instructor of American Studies and Humanities
Katie Moulder
Instructor of Humanities
Meredith Murphy ’02
Instructor and Chair of Humanities (Durham)
William Nessly
Instructor of American Studies and Asian-American Studies
Tess Nielsen
Instructor of Choral Music and Drama
Robert Noffsinger
Instructor of Spanish and Humanities
Javier Pabón
Dean of Humanities
Liz Peeples
Instructor of Humanities
Carolina Perez
Instructor of Music
Martha Regalis
Instructor of Humanities
Adam Sampieri
Instructor of Drama
Tonya Smith ’89
Instructor of Spanish and Humanities
Marc Sprintz
Instructor of American Studies and Humanities
Keegan Storrs
Instructor of Spanish and Chair of Humanities (Durham)
Natsuko Suwa
Instructor of Japanese
Cecile Tougas
Instructor of Latin
Ying-Hua Tsai
Instructor of Chinese
Qian Wang
Instructor of Chinese
John Woodmansee
Instructor of Humanities
John Zimmerman
Instructor of American Studies and Humanities and Chair of Humanities (Morganton)