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The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA) is excited to announce the 2023 recipients of the Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship for Faculty Diversity: Drs. Allison Kanner-Botan (Religious Studies) and Isaac Javier Rivera (Geography).

Kanner-Botan and Rivera join 13 other prior Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship for Faculty Diversity recipients.

A scholar of religion and literature, specifically premodern Islam, Allison Kanner-Botan will join Religious Studies from the University of Chicago. Kanner-Botan’s investigations grow out of her interest in the relationship between aesthetics and social critique, and the role of love in attempts to define humanity. Her dissertation analyzed one of the most famous love stories of the Islamic world, Layla and Majnun. Assistant Professor in Religious Studies Aun Hasan Ali will serve as Kanner-Botan’s mentor.

Recently securing his PhD from the University of Washington, Isaac Javier Rivera will work alongside of Associate Professor of Geography Joe Bryan. Born and raised in Denver, Rivera’s work explores ways Indigenous Peoples live and survive in an urban setting, struggling against perceptions viewing them as “out of place.” Over the next few years at ��ƷSM����ӰƬ, Rivera plans to build a digital geography laboratory devoted to social justice work.