Office Hours: Faculty Profiles

Sampada Aranke

Associate Professor of History of Art and Comparative Studies

In and out of the classroom, sparking change is at the center of Associate Professor Sampada Aranke’s teachings. Her work focuses on Black American art and how it portrays alternative ways of establishing community structures and societies. 

“The most exceptional thinkers and practitioners of that were always Black American activists, Black American artists who were taking these questions of freedom at their core to mean something so different than what had been pictured before,” Aranke said.

Aranke’s experiences in teaching and political organizing led to her thinking about art as central to realizing other ways of living, with Black American artists at the core due to their perspectives on freedom. Returning to those practices and those traditions inspired her current trajectory. 

“Oftentimes, the stuff that we’re studying, even when you think it’s not political, that’s probably especially when it’s political.”

For all the knowledge Aranke imparts on her students, she takes as much away from them as they offer new perspectives on timeless art. “It’s that dialogic relationship where a student sees something in a painting that I’ve been looking at for years. It’s nothing short of magical,” Aranke said.

Allison F. Bean

Associate Professor of Speech-Language Pathology

One in 36 children in the U.S. have autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Associate Professor Allison F. Bean is working to help each of them find their voice.

“My research focuses on autism,” Bean said. “I work with autistic children who are nonspeaking, who are early emerging communicators. We’re looking at how best to support language and communication development in these kids who are using these alternative modalities.”

“The goal with my research is how can we best understand how these kids learn so they can be effective communicators.”

Bean discovered her passion for speech-language pathology as an undergraduate, taking a class at the recommendation of her mom, a special education teacher. She later worked with kids with autism.

“I loved working with the families, and as I was working, I found that some of my kids really took off and exploded in terms of their language and communication, and others still really struggled,” she said. “I decided to go back to school to get my PhD to really try and understand why we were seeing kids respond differently to treatment.”