Katelyn M. Campbell is the Postdoctoral Research Scholar and Program Advisor to the Black and Indigenous Feminist Futures Institute at the University of Virginia, which is housed in the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Her research is rooted in the fields of Rural Queer Studies and Critical Ethnic Studies and takes up the womyn's land movement as a site for understanding intergenerational feminist memory, the politics of inheritance, and feminist relationships with ecology. Katelyn earned her Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She grew up in West Virginia and represented the state as its 2016 Harry S. Truman Scholar. Katelyn previously served on the Board of WGS South as Secretary (2021-2026). You can learn more about her work on her website at katelynmcampbell.com. 

Lydia E. Ferguson is a Senior Lecturer in English and Affiliate Faculty in American Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies at Kennesaw State University. Her most recent published work, “Of Passing and Preservation: Intangible Material Culture and the (Im)materialities of Black Death in the American South” (Brill Press, Oct 2026) makes an argument for recognizing and respecting the liminal space between intangible cultural heritage and material culture studies that is “Intangible Material Culture.” Previously, she has published in the The North Carolina Literary Review, The American Studies Journal, and The Journal of Cultural and Religious Theory. While her earlier research focuses on how literature and material culture misappropriated the intersectionality of elder African American men and women in the nineteenth and early-to-mid twentieth centuries, her current research projects range from “Enslaved Savannah Artisans as Subversive Writers” to “Pro-Capitalist Rhetorics and the Language of Play in 20th-Century American Board Games.”

Frances Henderson is Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Kentucky, whose research include black feminisms and race in social movements in the US. Her work “Black Rural Lives Matter” appeared in Transforming Anthropology and her writings on equity in teaching has been featured in Conditionally Accepted in the Chronicle of Higher Education. She is currently working on a manuscript about anti-racist activism in East TN and the ways in which this activism dovetails with Appalachian justice movements and the Movement for Black Lives.
KYfrances.henderson@uky.edu

Emily Taylor is an Independent Scholar and feminist writer based in South Carolina. Dr. Taylor was previously associate professor of World Literature at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina. She earned her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Oregon and has published essays in Caribbean-Irish Connections, The Journal of West Indian Literature, The Routledge Companion to Anglophone Caribbean Literature, and The Southern Quarterly. She writes the newsletter Hot Feminism: Letters from South Carolina.

Shenée L. Simon, founder of S.H.E. Collective, Inc. 2019, an organization advancing women’s peace and security (WPS) for BIPOC girls and women, centering spirituality, holistic wellness, environment and education. She is a spiritually, politically, socially minded leader and cultivator. She believes and practices a “triad approach” participating and contributing locally/nationally/globally to track change, impact and reach at every level.  Shenée serves for profit, non profit, faith and academic institutions e.g. Virginia Women’s Foundation, American Association of University Women (AAUW), National Association of Independent Schools, Texas Methodist Foundation, National Association of African Americans in Human Resources, in areas of membership development, strategic planning, process improvement, complex community building, fundraising and education. She currently chairs the Texas; Faith, Spirituality and Democracy and; Environment Praxis Groups for Women of Color Advancing Peace Security and Conflict Transformation (WCAPS).  Shenée participated in the 2022 Women’s Earth Alliance Accelerator Cohort and participated in the inaugural WCAPS Fellows Program in 2020.   

She is pursuing a Masters of Divinity at Candler School of Theology specializations in Chaplaincy, Women & Theology and Justice, Peace and Conflict. She holds both a B.A and M.A. in Women & Gender Studies thesis: she LEARNS: ella APRENDE In the Spanish Speaking South: Journey to Peace & Security ,Safety (WPS) in Education and M.A. Human Resources concentration Nonprofit Management. Shenée is a contributing author to the anthology, World Making in Nepantla: Feminists of Color Navigating Life and Work in the Pandemic. Shenée is a proud Army spouse and homeschooling mama of 4. She previously served as SEWSA/WGS South Membership & Development Director from 2019-21 raising her hand to serve at her first conference in 2019.

Corey Tatz is a PhD Candidate in Gender Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. His research interests primarily include bro culture, masculinities, bi+ studies, hookup culture, reality television, and influencers and content creation. His research can be found in both Sexuality and Disability and The Journal of Sex Research. 

Corey’s dissertation project is titled “A Longitudinal Study of Sexual Behavior, Masculinity, and Identity among College-Aged Bi+ Bros.” He follows bi+ men who are part of bro culture (social fraternities, sports teams, ROTC, etc.) over a six- to sixteen-month period. He is interested in their positionality within these organizations, including the ways they assimilate and conform to hegemonic masculine norms while also showing signs of hybrid masculinity. Additionally, he focuses on how these bros’ sexual behavior and identity change over time. 

Montia Daniels is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She is a McNair Graduate Fellow, who has received fellowships and grants from the Southern Equality Research Center, Black Communications and Technology Lab, and The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Her most recent publication is in Southern Cultures entitled, “God Loves Women, and I Do Too: The Spiritual Communities of Southern Black Queer Women and Nonbinary Folks” (2025).

Their dissertation research is interested in Southern Black queer women, girls, and nonbinary (SBQWGNB)  folks’ daughtering experiences in sites that are imagined to be impossible for Black queer living, specifically home. Their research specifically focuses on North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia and engages with Black feminist geographies, Black queer studies, and religious studies, as well oral history, autoethnography, and poetic inquiry. She has a forthcoming poetry and sculptural project with the Black Homeplaces Project on Black queer girlhood, mother-daughter relationships, and recipes.

Dr. Daniel Coleman (he/they) is an Assistant Professor in the Institute for Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Affiliate Faculty Member in Africana Studies. Dr. Coleman is a performance artist, dancer/choreographer, poet, and transdisciplinary artist-scholar who prioritizes both performance mediums and written scholarship.

Dr. Coleman's first book, Refusals and Reinventions: Engendering New Black and Indigenous Life Across the Americas, was published by the Ohio State University Press in 2024 and considers his critical trajectories and participation in intersectional justice struggles in the US and Mexico, situating them within larger abolitionist and decolonial movements for Black civil rights and Native/Indigenous sovereignty. Dr. Coleman’s other publications appear in Bigger Than Bravery: Black Resilience and Reclamation in a Time of Pandemic, Out of Place: Artists, Pedagogy, and Purpose, Out of Place: Artists, Pedagogy, and Purpose, The Black Trans Prayer Book, and in The Black Scholar, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Queer Studies and Communication, and Geographies of Us: An Ecosomatic/s Reader.

Anastasia Todd is an associate professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Kentucky. She is the author of the award-winning book, Cripping Girlhood (University of Michigan Press, 2024). At UK she teaches classes on girlhood, disability, and the internet. Her new project extends her work on crip digital culture to explore the relationship between disabled young women and girls and their phone as an intimate, material, and survival object. 

Annie Elledge (she/her) is a feminist political geographer and interdisciplinary fat studies scholar interested in the politics of body size, gender, and disability in the U.S. South. She is a Part-Time Assistant Professor of Gender and Women Studies at Kennesaw State University. Annie received her Ph.D. in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her dissertation research examines how fat people engage with weight-inclusive movement spaces. More broadly, Annie’s work engages feminist and crip/queer theory, qualitative methods, and place-based research to understand the everyday production of the ideal citizen in the United States. You can learn more about her work at anniemelledge.com.

Dana T. Ahern is an assistant professor of Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies at the University of South Florida. Ahern’s research revolves around intersections of queer and trans studies, disability studies, and feminist science and technology studies. Ahern’s first book, Transhumanitarian Crisis, is under contract with SUNY Press and explores the development and distribution of transgender medical technology throughout global conditions of crisis. Through this work, Ahern investigates how this technology shapes and is shaped by global networks of medicine, governance, and biopower.iption goes here

Samantha Davis is a game designer and marketer currently pursuing a BBA in Marketing. A graduate of the game design program at Futuregames in Stockholm, Sweden, her work bridges interactive systems, player dynamics, and digital engagement across games and brand activations. Her background spans collaborations with independent studios and research initiatives alongside Kennesaw State University’s Office of Research, contract design analysis for studios such as Valve, and large-scale digital experiences at The Gang for global brands including Vans, IKEA, and DreamWorks.

Informed by her perspective as a transgender woman, Samantha brings intersectional, accessible design practices directly into live commercial development. Rather than treating inclusion as an abstract ideal, she focuses on actionable execution throughout her work. Her portfolio and selected work can be found at samanthadavis.se.