Ron Friis has been teaching all levels of Spanish language and literature at Furman since 1999. He is the author of José Emilio Pacheco and the Poets of the Shadows (Bucknell UP) and co-author of the Spanish conversation textbook Doble vía (Cengage). His critical articles on Mexican and Chilean poetry appear in many scholarly journals and he recently submitted the book manuscript White Light: The Poetry of Alberto Blanco for publication. His translations of Blanco, most in collaboration with Furman alumna Maria Bartlett '18, appear in Cagibi, The Bitter Oleander, Ezra, The Bhubaneswar Review and elsewhere.

Roger A. Sneed is the Dorothy and B.H. Peace, Jr. Associate Professor and chair of Furman University’s Department of Religion. He received his Ph.D. in Religion from Vanderbilt University in 2006, his Master of Divinity from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in 1999, his Master of Arts in History and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Tulsa in 1996 and 1994. He is the author of Representations of Homosexuality: African American Religious and Cultural Criticism, published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2010. His current book, tentatively titled The Dreamer and the Dream: Afrofuturism and Black Religious Thought, will be published by The Ohio State University Press. In addition to his university duties, Roger is an active member of the American Academy of Religion, having served as co-chair of the Gay Men and Religion Program Unit, and currently serving as a member of the AAR’s LGBTIQ Status Commission, and the AAR Program Committee.

Dr. Savita Nair is Professor of History and Asian Studies and a member of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Oversight Committee. She joined Furman in 2003 and co-founded Furman’s inaugural India Study Abroad program in 2008. Her courses span the history of India, empire and colonial cultures, women’s and gender studies, and the global movement of food commodities. Dr. Nair’s research focuses on Indian overseas migration, primarily on merchant families from western India to eastern Africa. Her newest project is a social history of Indians in Ireland. She was the recipient of the Alester and Janie Earle Furman awards for both Meritorious Advising and Meritorious Teaching, and has been awarded the James B. Duke Chair in Asian Studies. She also serves as an Inclusive Pedagogy Fellow for Furman’s Faculty Development Center. She earned a B.S. in History and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University and a Ph.D. in History from the University of Pennsylvania.

Brandon Inabinet is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies whose focus is on the history of rhetoric as a set of theories (emerging from ancient Greco-Roman philosophy) and a set of practices (with its height in early American and British oratory). His dozen or so publications in his field’s journals reflect both interests and their connection to the contemporary global world. Beyond his field of research, Inabinet has been active in the South’s reconciliation with slavery and has an upcoming book on how the South “reconstructs” itself from its history.

Professor Margaret Oakes has been at Furman since 1996, teaching Early Modern literature and Humanities courses. Her specialty is 16th and 17th century British poetry. Her research interests currently focus on Milton, Shakespeare, Margaret Cavendish, seventeenth century book frontispiece portraits, early modern humanist education, the history of scientific writing, Reformation theology, British detective fiction, and children’s fantasy literature. She the faculty advisor for Sigma Tau Delta, the English honorary society, and coach for the Mock Trial program. Dr. Oakes has been the recipient of many awards and honors: Furman Meritorious Advising Award (2002), Faculty Member of the Year, Association of Furman Students (2006), Sigma Tau Delta Outstanding Advisor (2006), Princeton Review “300 best professors in the United States” (2012). She holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University, a J.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an M.A. from Northwestern University, and a B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Bryan Bibb is Professor of Religion, with a specialty in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. A 1994 graduate of Furman, Bryan received his MDiv and PhD degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary, and returned as a member of the Furman faculty in 2000. During his career, he has been awarded both the prestigious Furman Standard Research Grant and the Alester G. Furman Jr. and Janie Earle Furman Award for Meritorious Teaching. Bryan has served as the President of the Southeastern regional of the Society of Biblical Literature, as the Board Chairman of the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion, and as a research fellow with the Nida Institute of the American Bible Society. Having written books about Leviticus and about the Hebrew Prophets, Bryan's current area of research is the history and ideology of Bible translation, and he is also writing a major academic commentary on the book of Numbers for the Word Biblical Commentary series. Bryan is very popular as a speaker and workshop leader for religious and civic organizations on topics related to the Bible in contemporary culture.