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News
Four Faculty Join the 26-27 Duke Faculty Fellows
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The Office of Undergraduate Education is pleased to announce Duke professors Sara Galletti, Ph.D., Sarah Komisarow, Ph.D., Kusum Knapczyk, Ph.D., and Christopher Ouma, Ph.D. as new Faculty Fellows. These faculty members will join the returning four Faculty Fellows this summer as they welcome back the quad residents on Duke’s West Campus.
About the Faculty Fellows Program
Faculty Fellows serve as champions of student-faculty engagement, creating opportunities for intentional conversations and connections beyond the classroom. Through casual dinners, informal gatherings, and community-building events within their assigned West Campus quads, Fellows create spaces for students to engage in thoughtful dialogue, discover shared interests, and build relationships with faculty that enrich their Duke experience.
Representing a range of academic disciplines and areas of expertise, the newly appointed Faculty Fellows will contribute to Duke's West Campus Quads by fostering intellectual curiosity, mentorship, and a stronger sense of belonging among undergraduate students throughout the academic year and beyond.
The Office of Undergraduate Education’s Student-Faculty Engagement Office manages the Faculty Fellows program. The application cycle for the 2027-2028 fellow openings will begin in the spring of 2027.
Meet the New 2026-2027 Faculty Fellows
Sara Galletti, Associate Professor of Art, Art History & Visual Studies – Wannamaker Quad
A scholar of architecture and urbanism in early modern Europe and the premodern Mediterranean, Galletti’s research explores how architectural knowledge was created, shared, and transformed across cultures. Galletti’s current book project, supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, examines the history of stone vaulting and patterns of knowledge transfer throughout the Mediterranean world. As a Faculty Fellow, Galletti looks forward to engaging with students and learning about their stories, their ways of seeing things, and their ideas and ambitions about the future.
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Christopher Ouma, Associate Professor of English and of African & African American Studies – Craven Quad
Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Ouma grew up in a small town in western Kenya near Lake Victoria. Ouma later attended graduate school in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he wrote his thesis on Nigeria before teaching at the University of Cape Town. Ouma is the author of Childhood in Contemporary Diasporic African Literature and is currently working on a new book exploring the Pan-African Imagination. As a Faculty Fellow, Ouma looks forward to getting to know students over good food, music, and the power of imagination. In his free time, Ouma enjoys reading novels, bodybuilding, watching soccer and basketball, and traveling.
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Kusum Knapczyk, Senior Lecturer of Hindi Language of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies – Kilgo Quad
Knapczyk is an accomplished educator whose teaching and scholarship focus on Hindi language, literature, and language pedagogy. Knapczyk has received several honors for her teaching and global engagement, including Duke’s Richard K. Lublin Distinguished Teaching Award. Knapczyk is the co-author of Reading Hindi: Novice to Intermediate and Reading Urdu: Novice to Intermediate (Routledge), as well as the author of Speak Hindi with Style: Hindi Idioms & Sayings to Spice Up Everyday Conversation. As a Faculty Fellow, Knapczyk looks forward to meeting a diverse group of students, learning from their unique perspectives and experiences, and building meaningful connections through conversation, laughter, and community.
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Sarah Komisarow, Assistant Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy – Crowell Quad
Komisarow's connection to Duke began long before joining the faculty. Originally from Iowa City, Iowa, she arrived at Duke as an undergraduate and graduated with a B.A. in Public Policy Studies in 2008. After earning an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago, Komisarow returned to Duke in 2016, where she now serves as an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Economics in the Sanford School of Public Policy. An applied microeconomist, Komisarow‘s research interests include the economics of education and K-12 education policy. As a Faculty Fellow, Komisarow looks forward to connecting with students and having fun while learning more about their interests, hobbies, and experiences at Duke.