Our Team
David N. Myers
Director
David N. Myers is the director of the Initiative to Study Hate. He is Distinguished Professor of History and holds the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History in the UCLA History Department. He is also the founding director of the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy, and serves as President of the Board of the New Israel Fund.
Maia Ferdman
Project Manager
Maia Ferdman is the manager for the initiative. She is the founder and principal of Bridges Intergroup Relations Consulting, which supports organizations and communities to build vibrant spaces of belonging. Throughout her career Maia has developed numerous interfaith programs, trained government and nonprofit groups in cultural competency, and facilitated conversations across differences about policing, homelessness, racial equity, and more. She holds a B.A. in Global Studies and an M.A. in Latin American Studies from UCLA.
Amalia Mora
Research Manager
Amalia C. Mora is the Research Manager for the initiative. She is an ethnomusicologist, writer, and performing artist whose doctoral research examined the relationship between sexual violence and narratives about lower-caste dancers in India. In addition to her position at UCLA, she is a lecturer in the online Human Rights Practice Program and an affiliated faculty member for the Applied Intercultural Arts Research Program at the University of Arizona, where she helped to establish a new master’s certificate program as well as the UA Consortium on Gender-Based Violence. Amalia received her PhD from the UCLA Herb Albert School of Music, department of Ethnomusicology.
Domonique Henderson
Program Coordinator
Domonique Henderson is the Program Coordinator for the initiative. She is an Associate Clinical Social Worker and doctoral student in the Social Welfare Department. Her research centers on gendered racism and its mental health implications on Black women and girls. Domonique is also a Teaching Fellow in the Luskin School of Public Affairs focusing on clinical training and human development courses. To enhance her community contributions, she founded a non-profit, CRWND, Inc. focused on mentoring Black girls in her hometown, which coincides with her research efforts to address mistreatment and violence at the nexus of sexism and racism.
Staff Affiliates
The UCLA Initiative to Study Hate receives administrative coordination and support from Michelle Anderson and Amanda McAlpin
Affiliated Faculty
The Initiative to Study Hate is fortunate to benefit from the expertise of numerous UCLA experts from across campus, who are listed below.
Aomar Boum
Professor, Anthropology
I am a socio-cultural anthropologist with a historical bent concerned with the social and cultural representation of and political discourse about religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East and North Africa. My ethnographic work engages the place of religious and ethnic minorities such as Jews, Baha’is, Shias and Christians in post-independence Middle Eastern and North African states.
David Eisenman
Professor-in-Residence, Department of Community Health Sciences
David Eisenman, MD, MSHS, is a professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and has a joint appointment at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health where he directs the Center for Public Health and Disasters and is the Deputy Director for Community Partnerships at the UCLA Center for Healthy Climate Solutions. Dr. Eisenman is also an Associate Natural Scientist at RAND.
Adriana Galván
Dean, Undergraduate Education and Professor, Psychology
My research focuses on characterizing the neural mechanisms underlying adolescent behavior with an eye towards informing policy (e.g. juvenile justice).
Anne Gilliland
Associate Dean and Professor of Information Studies
My research focuses on the history, nature, human impact, and technologies associated with archives, record keeping and memory, particularly in translocal and international contexts.
Aliza Luft
Assistant Professor of Sociology
I am an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. My research lies at the intersection of sociology, history, and political science. I am fascinated by how individuals make decisions about violence: whether to organize, support, and participate in violence; how, when, and why they choose to defect; and what happens once violence is done. To view my publications, or learn more about my book project, please visit www.alizaluft.com.
Norma Mendoza-Denton
Professor, Anthropology
My research focuses on youth, language, migration, politics, and identity. Though my original training is in sociophonetics, I have conducted research among Latina girls involved in gangs, politicians in Town Hall meetings, children in school settings, and young adults playing videogames.
David N. Myers
Director
David N. Myers is the director of the Initiative to Study Hate. He is Distinguished Professor of History and holds the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History in the UCLA History Department. He is also the founding director of the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy, and serves as President of the Board of the New Israel Fund.
Safiya Noble
Professor, Gender Studies and African American Studies
My academic research focuses on the internet and its impact on society. My work is both sociological and interdisciplinary, marking the ways that digital media intersects with issues of race, gender, culture, power, and technology.
Aaron Panofsky
Associate Professor, Institute for Society and Genetics, Public Policy, and Sociology
Aaron Panofsky is a sociologist of science, knowledge, and culture with a special interest on the history, intellectual organization, and social implications of genetics.
Roger Waldinger
Distinguished Professor, Sociology
My research focuses on international migration: its social, political, and economic consequences; the policies and politics emerging in response to its advent; the links between immigrants and the countries and people they have left behind.