Lydia E. Ferguson

Lydia E. Ferguson is a PhD candidate in the Auburn University English Department, where she researches nineteenth-century American literature and cultural studies. She earned her BA in English from Ball State University and her MA in Literature from Clemson University. Her research focuses on performances and representations of cultural identity, and her dissertation examines the roles and representations of elderly slaves in the popular culture and literature of nineteenth-century America. Lydia is an avid proponent of service-learning pedagogy and civic engagement, and is cocreator of the Virtual Education Project (VEP), a nonprofit public education resource facilitating the study of historical and contemporary landmarks relevant to the arts and humanities.

Brandon Sams

Brandon Sams recently received his PhD in curriculum studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and works as an assistant professor of English education at Auburn University. His teaching and research interests include reading and writing pedagogy, curriculum studies, creativity, and arts-influenced research methods. He is currently at work on a book manuscript (adapted from his dissertation) about the potential of aesthetic and contemplative reading practices to interrupt and renew “schooled” reading practices shaped by the epistemologies of audit culture. At Auburn, he enjoys working with future teachers and practicing teachers who believe that reading books together is a simple but powerful way to create better selves and communities.

Jocelyn Zanzot

Jocelyn E. Zanzot is co-director of the Mobile Studio. She is a landscape architect, artist, and teacher originally from San Francisco. She earned her Bachelor and Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Oregon in 2003. Her Bachelor of Studio Arts is from Reed College with an emphasis in public art. She has worked professionally in both urban design offices and in design build firms from the West Coast to the Deep South. Teaching positions have expanded her practices between the University of California, Davis; Sierra Community College; and the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Currently, she is an assistant professor at Auburn University, where she teaches seminars and studios that explore design as a resourceful and an imaginative choreography in collaboration with diverse communities toward civic health.