The world is entering a new era, and to prepare students for new dynamics and new forces that will alter our future, the School of Global Studies and Languages has hired six new tenure-track faculty members.  

Established fall 2021, the School of Global Studies and Languages is a place where students can engage with diverse global cultures, languages, histories and lifeways. With more than 100 faculty members, the school is home to more than 20 majors, minors and graduate programs.  

And the school continues to grow with new faculty members who are expanding its perspectives and areas of expertise while contributing to its interdisciplinary curriculum, innovative language teaching, and abundant learning opportunities outside the classroom.  

“These new hires are exciting because they represent the vision that we started the school with,” GSL Executive Director Aneesh Aneesh said. “All of them not only bring substantive expertise to the school, but they also can look at the region where they are researching as a whole, including the cultural issues as well as linguistic knowledge of that area.” 

Meet GSL’s new faculty:

Haruka Nagao

Haruka Nagao is joining GSL following a stint as an assistant professor at Oklahoma State University, where she taught in the political science department. With degrees in East Asian languages and cultures; political science; and a graduate certificate in women’s gender, and sexuality studies, she takes an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and research. 

“I take multidisciplinary perspectives and really try to delve into people’s experiences and perspectives,” Nagao said. “I look at the local context, local political, economic situations, and power dynamics that arise locally, as well as the inequality and power dynamics that happen globally. It’s very difficult to separate them. They are intertwined. Global dynamics structure what happens locally.”

Why UO: The student body.

“We have a really wonderful community of students. We have such a stimulating academic environment and community here, where students and scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds, academic interests, and experiences get together and learn together.”

Meet Haruka

William Hatungimana 

William Hatungimana’s research is influenced by his past experience with immigration issues. After traveling through many countries at a young age, Hatungimana started schooling in Eswatin and later came to the U.S. and pursued a bachelor’s degree in international studies, a master’s degree, a PhD in political science, and a certificate in African studies. 

“I grew up in a refugee camp. When I moved to Eswatini, where I grew up, I didn’t speak English nor the local language, so it was very hard for me to adapt even though I was young,” Hatungimana said. “Sometimes things are tougher because we are coming from different backgrounds, and it doesn’t make sense right away. It’s good to stick with students and make them comfortable in your class instead of just dismissing them.”

Why UO: The collaborative opportunities.

“I’m with people who are in different disciplines. It might be literature; it might be language. I appreciate that. I can interact with them and talk about different issues, which helps me understand and discuss their complexities.”

Meet William

Ali Malik

Coming from teaching interdisciplinary law, politics and society at Drake University, Ali Malik is excited to tackle issues from systematic and technological perspectives. 

“For me, the first step towards thinking about, ‘How do we either improve things or get out of a crisis, or crises?’ is by understanding, ‘How did we get in it in the first place? How was it created, and who is responsible?’ That's a really important question too, that I think is often overlooked or maybe not asked more directly. And who benefits?”

Why UO: The care for different disciplines.

“There is a serious commitment to the humanities, to the social sciences, to critical thought, to critical research here. Students here care about about what's happening in the world, about what's happening in Eugene. I get this sense that there's a hunger, a curiosity to learn more and to apply that in the world.”

Meet Ali

Eleanor Paynter

Eleanor Paynter comes to the University of Oregon after postdoctoral positions in Migrations at Cornell University and in Italian studies at Brown University. With research focused on the media and politics of migration, Paynter is excited to continue her interdisciplinary research at the UO. 

“I find inspiration in work that crosses regional and disciplinary borders. We can better understand, engage, and respond to issues of migration and rights by bringing multiple approaches and voices into conversation.”

Why UO: The emphasis on interdisciplinarity.

“I'm thrilled to be at an institution that is invested in interdisciplinary work. Getting to work and teach in Romance languages within the framework of GSL was an especially appealing aspect of the position. 

"Pursuing my research on Mediterranean migration in an environment that recognizes the importance of regional and linguistic specialization, along with comparative and cross-regional work, was an exciting prospect. I look forward to connecting and collaborating with colleagues and students who are doing fascinating work on rights, mobility, asylum, and belonging in many different places… and I’m so glad to be here in beautiful Oregon.”

Meet Eleanor

Smadar Ben-Natan

Smadar Ben-Natan’s career as a human rights lawyer in Israel and Palestine showed her firsthand the struggles that her clients faced. This work led to Ben-Natan pursuing her master’s in international human rights law at the University of Oxford and her PhD in law at Tel Aviv University. 

“I didn't think to start with that I would become a researcher and do a PhD,” Ben-Natan says. “I was very into my practice as a lawyer and I did that for quite a long time, but then I was left with so many unanswered questions that I wanted to explore. Additionally, I was always more intellectually curious than my work demanded.”

Why UO: The people.

“I just found this school and this university to be so friendly, so energized, and the people so fascinating, with common interests, values, and vision,” Ben-Natan says. “I was very happy to join, and I felt I could connect easily with students from the Pacific Northwest since I previously taught at the UW Seattle.”

Meet Smadar

Hannah Cutting-Jones

In Auckland, New Zealand from 2014-2017,Hannah Cutting-Jones researched food history and culture in the Pacific. She’s been teaching at the UO since 2018 in the History Department, Clark Honors College, and Food Studies program, serving as the director of the latter since 2022. 

This year, Cutting-Jones joined GSL as a tenure-track faculty member. “My research in Pacific archives and then at the Library of Congress has explored links between history, gender, religion, colonialism and food. I have been particularly interested recently in our national obsession with protein and the history of nutritional advice in colonial settings.”

Why UO: The study abroad opportunities for students.

“These programs are incredible. Students are able to experience food culture in another nation and are constantly making connections with life outside of the classroom. They have freedom to travel, and participate in many field trips. In Siena, Italy, where I taught fall quarter this year, we visited olive orchards and vineyards, sustainable farms, and more. 

"Students can appreciate their time in Italy so much more by exploring attitudes towards food, health, history & culture. My wish is that every student in the Food Studies Program could participate in one of the many food-related study abroad programs GEO currently offers, including to Greece, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Samoa, and France."

Meet Hannah

—Grace Connolly, College of Arts and Sciences