New Postdoctoral Fellows for Faculty Diversity selected

Silvia Castro Lorenso
Silvia Castro Lorenso

Five Ph.D. graduates have been selected as the newest scholars for the Carolina Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity. The fellowship, one of the oldest programs of its kind,seeks to develop postdoctoral scholars from underrepresented groups for possible tenure-track appointments at Carolina and other research universities.

Each year, scholars are chosen from around the nation for the program, which is now in its 30th year. The 2013 scholars are:

  • Silvia Castro Lorenso, who has a Ph.D. in Luso-Brazilian literatures and cultures from the University of Texas and has studied the role of poetry in transforming communities and forming new identities;
  • Benjamin Frey, who earned a Ph.D. in German with a minor in linguistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has concentrated on investigating sociolinguistics;
  • Julie Marchesan, who received a Ph.D. in oral health sciences from the University of Michigan with a research focus on determining the role of inflammatory periodontal disease in arthritis;
  • William Sturkey
    William Sturkey


    William Sturkey, whose Ph.D. in African-American history from Ohio State University has led to a research focus on the history of race in the American South; and
  • Sean Zeigler, who earned a Ph.D. in political science with a concentration in international relations from Duke University and has studied rebel alliances in civil wars.

In addition, two 2012 scholars are completing their two-year fellowships at Carolina:

  • Victor Martínez, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a teaching and research focus on Etruscan, Roman, and Late Antique art and archaeology; and
  • Matthew Mitchell, who earned his doctorate in history at the University of Pennsylvania and studies British commerce in the early modern Atlantic world.

[ Reprinted with permission from the University Gazette ]