The Academy of Civic Life Team
The Academy of Civic Life team is dedicated to improving college access for students from historically underserved and underrepresented backgrounds in Suffolk County. We are passionate about supporting civic engagement through community-led initiatives. We have brought together an interdisciplinary group faculty members and graduate students to make a difference in the lives of the Academy students.
Faculty Director: Dr. Tracey Walters
Dr. Walters teaches the Academy of Civic Life high school summer course (GLI 102)
as well as the associated undergraduate course (GLI 402).
Dr. Walters is Professor of Literature in the Department of Africana Studies at Stony Brook University where she also holds an affiliate appointment with the Institute for Globalization Studies, the Department of English, and Women’s and Gender Studies. She is an interdisciplinary, transcultural scholar of Africana Studies, and writes about the experiences of African diasporic women through the lens of feminist studies and cultural studies. She is a leading scholar of Black British literature and Classica Africana, a subfield of classical studies. Her articles can be found in numerous journals and anthologies. She has published two monographs: African American Women and the Classicists Tradition: Black Women Writers from Wheatley to Morrison (Palgrave, 2007) and Not Your Mother’s Mammy: The Representation of the Domestic in Transatlantic Media (Rutgers Press, 2021), and a reader Today’s Writers and their Works: Zadie Smith (Cavendish Square Publishing, 2012). She also edited Zadie Smith: Critical Essays (Peter Lang, 2008) and was a guest editor for Open Cultural Studies Journal.
Program Director: Dr. Amy Cook
Dr. Cook leads the administrative efforts for the Academy of Civic Life, ensuring
that our program is integrated into the wider Stony Brook University community and
supervising all graduate and undergraduate staff.
Dr. Cook is a Professor in the English Department and is Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Cook specializes in the intersection of cognitive science and theatre with particular attention to Shakespeare and contemporary performance. Her book, Building Character: The Art and Science of Casting (University of Michigan Press, 2018), was published in March 2018. She has also published Shakespearean Futures: Casting the Bodies of Tomorrow on Shakespeare's Stages Today (Cambridge 2020), Shakespearean Neuroplay: Reinvigorating the Study of Dramatic Texts and Performance through Cognitive Science (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), and Theatre, Performance and Cognition: Languages, Bodies and Ecologies (Methuen, 2016), co-edited with Rhonda Blair. She received her Ph.D. from University of California, San Diego (2006), had a postdoc at Emory and accepted a position at Indiana University before coming to Stony Brook.
College Access Program Coordinator: Ivanna Zavala-Arbelaez
Ivanna helps coordinate the Academy and will work to build capacity and incorporate
changes to the program by reflecting on its inaugural year. She will also work to
expand college focused volunteer programming at SBU.
Ivanna is a Stony Brook graduate who received a BA in Psychology with a minor in Health, Medicine, and Society. Aside from her work with the Academy, she is a research assistant in two Psychology research labs where she studies the developmental psychopathology of emotional disorders, as well as social competence in children with Autism. She also works as a teacher's aide at Stony Brook Child Care Center and as a substitute teaching assistant at Eastern Suffolk BOCES. Ivanna is passionate about helping students realize their capabilities and making higher education an attainable goal for all. In the future, Ivanna plans to attend graduate school and pursue a career in Psychology.