Meet the Team at the Center for Urban and Global Studies

DIRECTOR AND STAFF COLLEAGUES

(860) 297-5170 Xiangming.Chen@trincoll.edu

Xiangming Chen is Dean and Director of the Center for Urban and Global Studies and Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of Sociology and International Studies at Trinity College. He received his B.A. from Beijing Foreign Studies University and his Ph.D. from Duke University. His publications include: The World of Cities: Places in Comparative and Historical Perspective (Blackwell, 2003); As Borders Bend: Transnational Spaces on the Pacific Rim (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005); Shanghai Rising: State Power and Local Transformations in a Global Megacity (University of Minnesota Press, summer 2009), and about 50 papers, essays, and reviews in referred journals and edited books. He is currently working on two co-authored books on cities and globalization under contract for publication. He has travelled to over 20 countries for academic conferences or research.

(860) 297-4178
Eleanor.Emerson@trincoll.edu

(860) 297-4277
 Carlos.Espinosa@trincoll.edu

Carlos Espinosa is Director of Trinfo.Cafe at Trinity College and responsible for coordinating activities, developing programming, and building relationships with over 120 local organizations participating in the project.  He received his B.A. in Educational Studies and Sociology (1996) and then an M.A. in Public Policy in 1998 from Trinity College. Carlos is the first Trinity student to participate in the Trinity Center for Neighborhood’s community organizer training program while completing his Masters Degree at Trinity, where Carlos worked for Hartford Areas Rally Together organizing disenfranchised neighborhood residents. He previously served as a policy analyst and lobbyist for the Center for Community Change in Washington, D.C. Upon returning to Connecticut, Carlos helped found the Caring Families Coalition, a statewide advocacy group aimed at affecting public policy on health issues as it relates to caregivers.

Jason Fenner is Assistant Director of the Office for International Programs and also serves as the primary domestic contact for the Trinity Rome Campus. He holds an M.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University and a B.A. in Communication from Villanova University. A fluent French speaker, he has studied abroad in Dijon; Aix-en-Provence; and Paris, France. He previously worked as an education policy analyst for the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and the Congressional Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program, both located in Washington, D.C.

(860) 297-5175
Jason.Percy@trincoll.edu

Jason C. Percy joined the Center for Urban and Global Studies as the Assistant to the Dean and Director in February 2009. In addition to serving as Assistant to Dean Chen, Jason serves as Managing Editor of the Center's Working Paper Series, a scholarly journal that debuted in May, 2009 with five new papers from rising and established urban and global scholars from Trinity, Brown, and CUNY. Prior to joining the Center, Jason was an editor at Updike, Kelly & Spellacy, a Hartford-based Corporate Law Firm. A Trinity Alumnus, Jason completed his B.A. with Honors in 2006, and was named Salutatorian of his Class at Commencement. A member of Trinity's Phi Beta Kappa Chapter, he was awarded the Trinity's prestigious Holland Scholarship in 2005, which is conferred upon the rising senior attaining the highest GPA in the class during the prior academic year. A History major, Jason's interests were dispersed across the globe, but with a primary focus on East Asia. In addition, much of his research targeted the interplay of culture and history in early modern Europe and America. Jason has been a long-time Hartford-area resident. 

VISITING SCHOLARS

Sarah Moser arrived at CUGS in July 2009 after being named the 2009-2010 Paul E. Raether Visiting Fellow in Urban and Global Studies at Trinity College.  After receiving her doctorate in cultural geography from the National University of Singapore in 2008, Sarah was a postdoctoral fellow at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  She is broadly interested in how national and religious identity is constructed through architecture, cities, mega-projects and through various state social programs in Southeast Asia. Sarah’s research focuses primarily on Malaysia and Indonesia but has recently expanded to other regions in the Muslim world. In the fall 2009 at Trinity, Sarah will teach "Introduction to Religion and the City"; in spring 2010, she will lead a 300-level course on "Globalization and Urban Southeast Asia." Sarah has published articles in several journals including Area, and Social and Cultural Geography and is working on an edited collection called New Cities in the Muslim World.  Sarah has travelled extensively, visiting nearly 40 countries in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, and speaks Indonesian. 
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Ahmed Kanna was the Pauel E. Raether Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Urban and Global Studies at Trinity College for the academic years 2008-09. Ahmed received his B.S. from James Madison University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Ahmed is a cultural anthropologist interested in the cultural, political, and social dimensions of space, urbanization, and architecture. His other interests include Middle East studies, critical theory, and intellectual and architectural history. His forthcoming edited volume, The Superlative City, brings together international scholars in social science and architecture/urban design fields to analyze Dubai's evolution over the past three decades. At Trinity, Ahmed taught Introduction to Urban Anthropology in fall 2008, and is teaching a 300-level course “The Making of Modern Dubai” in spring 2009.

STUDENT ASSISTANTS AND VOLUNTEERS

(860) 297-4968

 Elizabeth.KongChan@trincoll.edu

Lizzy Kong '09 is a senior majoring in International Studies and Economics, as well as minoring in Legal Studies. Lizzy grew up speaking both English and Cantonese, and has also studied Mandarin, Spanish and French. Throughout the years Lizzy has taken part in numerous community service activities, such as tutoring, mentoring, and volunteering at local homeless shelters/soup kitchens. She mentored at the Boys and Girls Club of Hartford, was a member of the Multicultural Student Union, and worked in Admissions as a Black and Gold member.  She is also involved in AASA, LVL, the Bridge Organization, and Green Campus. Lizzy was born and raised in San Francisco, California.

Chang Liu '12 started as a Student Assistant at the Center for Urban and Global Studies in fall 2008. A freshman at Trinity and a student in the Cities program, he is beginning to satisfy his curiosity and passion for knowledge in Economics and the broad field of urban and global studies. Chang is from Beijing, China.