The College of Humanities is pleased to welcome new faculty for the upcoming academic year.
“These are outstanding scholars who represent the breadth and diversity of Humanities scholarship and teaching,” said Dorrance Dean Alain-Philippe Durand. “Their expertise in languages and cultures around the world will further our mission of graduating students equipped with the skills they need to succeed on the global job market.”
Abhishek Jain, Visiting Lecturer
Department of Religious Studies and Classics
Abhishek Jain (Ph.D., Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, 2021) is a philosopher of history and literary theorist entering the Department of Religious Studies and Classics as the Tirthankara Naminath Visiting Lecturer of Jain Studies for the 2025-2026 academic year. He was the Bhagwan Vasu Pujya Postdoctoral Fellow of Jain Studies at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), where he conducted multiple research projects. Before joining Pitt, Abhishek was Bhagwan Mallinath Visiting Assistant Professor of Jain Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Abhishek was also a Gonda Postdoctoral Fellow at Leiden University, The Netherlands. During his PhD, Abhishek conducted research at the University of Chicago, the University of Oxford, and Apabhramsha Sahitya Akademy in Jaipur. Abhishek has taught undergraduate and graduate courses, namely Indian philosophy, Yoga, Comparative Theology, Sanskrit, and Jaina Yoga. The primary focus of his research is on classical and modern South Asian languages and literature, literary theory, classical Indian philosophy, Jain studies, and translation theory.
Remy Matulewic, Adjunct Instructor
Department of French and Italian
Remy earned her BA in French, Arabic, and Political Science from the University of Arizona in 2021. After completing her undergraduate degree, she participated in the Teaching Assistant Program in France from 2021-2022, where she served as an English language teaching assistant in Montluçon, France teaching in both preschools and elementary schools. She then earned her MA in French from the University of Arizona in 2025
Charles Norton, Assistant Professor of Practice
Department of Africana Studies
Charles Norton is a linguist, interdisciplinary researcher, and Hip Hop teaching artist originally from Pittsburgh, PA. He holds a PhD in Aesthetics from Université Paris Nanterre, an MA in French & Anthropology from the University of Arizona, and a BA in Caribbean Culture & World Literature from Indiana University—Bloomington.
As a language and cultural specialist, Norton has consulted for Microsoft India, AXA Banque in France, and the Seattle Sounders and Seattle Reign Football Clubs. In the world of professional sports, his clients include the captain of Haiti’s 2023 FIFA World Cup team, the 2014 FA Women’s Player of the Year, the 2016 MLS Newcomer of the Year, the 2019 MLS Cup MVP, and players representing Uruguay, Cameroon, and South Korea at multiple FIFA World Cups.
In his research, Norton uses multi-sited ethnography and Community-Based Participatory Research to investigate human rights and empowerment in global Hip Hop cultures. His works have been published as peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and industry reports in the Americas, Africa, and Europe. He authored the first comprehensive annual human rights report for the Mediterranean nation of Malta and is currently revising monograph projects in English and French.
As an artist and curator, Norton uses Hip Hop cultures to teach foreign languages (e.g., English, French, Spanish, Kreyol, and Arabic), sustainable fashion design, jewelry making, and Black & Indigenous histories that have been erased by white supremacy. His regular collaborators include the Neoglyphix All Indigenous Aerosol Art Exhibition, the Atlanta University Center, the Gullah Geechee Futures Project, HipHopedia, Liquid Bridge, and the American Cultural Association of Morocco.
Beyond the University of Arizona, Norton has been a full-time faculty, fellow, and administrator at Morehouse College, Coastal Carolina University, Arizona State University, and the Université-Paris Cité. He has also served as a Faculty Research Adviser at the Center for Language Enhancement at the University of Rwanda’s Gikondo campus in Kigali.
Matthew Sherry, Visiting Lecturer
Department of Religious Studies & Classics
Matthew Sherry earned his PhD in Classics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his BA from Wake Forest University. His research interests lie primarily in Greek and Latin poetry, especially Alexandrian and Augustan. His dissertation examined Vergil’s depiction of poetry as a means of consolation throughout the Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid and presented this thematic throughline as a response to the political context of the 1st Century BCE. Growing from this dissertation, his current book project explores the interrelationship between Vergil's literary and political goals. He argues that, throughout Vergil's corpus, the poet's literary endeavors (generic engagement, adaptation of literary models, metapoetics, etc.) serve thematic purposes that correspond to and enhance his political commentary.
Agripino Silveira, Associate Professor of Practice and Director
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Dr. Agripino Silveira joins the Department of Spanish and Portuguese as Associate Professor of Practice and Director of the Portuguese Language Program. He earned his Ph.D. in Linguistics (2012) and M.A. in Portuguese Literature and Cultural Studies (2004) from the University of New Mexico. His research focuses on subject expression in Brazilian Portuguese, with broader interests in language assessment, language pedagogy, and second language acquisition.
Before joining the University of Arizona, Dr. Silveira served as Advanced Lecturer in Portuguese at Stanford University, where he also contributed to the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program, teaching graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in academic and professional communication.
In addition to his teaching, Dr. Silveira has held several leadership roles in language program administration, including coordinating pronunciation courses at the Middlebury Portuguese School and co-chairing the Portuguese Special Interest Group (SIG-ACTFL). He is co-author of Modern Brazilian Portuguese Grammar and has published research on Portuguese linguistics, applied linguistics, and proficiency-based instruction in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Silveira is certified by ACTFL as an Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) tester and Written Proficiency Test (WPT) rater in Portuguese. He is an active member of several professional organizations, including the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the American Portuguese Studies Association (APSA), the American Organization of Teachers of Portuguese (AOTP), and the Linguistic Society of America (LSA).
His current work explores best practices in oral proficiency assessment, task-based instruction, and the pedagogical applications of artificial intelligence in language education.