Dr. Ava Thompson Greenwell, Faculty-in-Residence
Ava Thompson Greenwell is an author, documentary filmmaker, podcaster, leadership life coach and journalism professor with more than 25 years of experience teaching reporting, writing and on-camera presentation at Northwestern University.
Greenwell is the author of Ladies Leading: The Black Women Who Control Television News. She also hosts Ladies Leading, the podcast.
She is the director of Mandela in Chicago, a documentary film about the city’s anti-apartheid movement that was broadcast in February 2021 February 2022 on WTTW, a PBS station.
Greenwell is executive producer of a documentary highlighting the contributions of Black women academics at Northwestern, scheduled for completion in spring 2023. In addition, the former television news reporter leads workshops on how to manage microaggressions in the workplace.
Dr. Myrna García, Faculty-in-Residence
Dr. Myrna García is an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Latina and Latino Studies Program at Northwestern University. She is also a college adviser in Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. As an ethnic studies scholar, she asks questions about the values and politics underlying history and archives used in its writing. Her research explores the youth activism undertaken by members of the Chicago chapter of the Center for Autonomous Social Action (CASA), one of the most important immigrant rights organizations to emerge from the Chicano Movement. CASA-Chicago youth in the 1970s conceptualized a “sin fronteras politics” as an imagining that brought ethnic Mexicans together, regardless of birthplace, generation, or citizenship status. Professor García demonstrates how sin fronteras was a precursor to the political ideology articulated in immigrant rights protests across the United States in the twenty-first century. She also discusses how CASA activists grappled with liberatory potentials of sin fronteras and its limitations for social change.
Dr. García is an educational leader with over two decades of classroom experience. She is passionate about teaching. Professor García’s courses include those studying the politics of knowledge production, social movements, and immigration. As an adviser, she is deeply committed to supporting students navigate university life. She also finds joy in helping students get started on their research journey. Professor García’s mentorship of undergraduates landed her on the “Faculty Honor Roll,” a recognition by the Office of Undergraduate Research. She empowers students to honor themselves as producers of knowledge and supports their research endeavors in Latinx Studies.
She leads meaningful community engagement and collaborative projects to amplify curandera [healing] histories. She serves on the Aquí en Chicago advisory committee at the Chicago History Museum. It is a project grounded in the historical preservation of Chicago’s Latinx community, and it fosters an intersectional understanding of the complexity of Latinx cultures, gastronomy, activism, and other dimensions. The committee is preparing to launch a Latinx Chicago exhibition at the museum in Fall 2025. Dr. García also co-led the Latinidades project at Mudlark Theatre. Under a Racial Equity and Community Partnership grant at Northwestern University, Professor García offered her expertise to build Latinx theatre-making and curriculum. She is a leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion work. In 2021, the university recognized Dr. García with the Daniel Linzer Award for Faculty Excellence in Diversity and Equity.
Resident Director (1838 Chicago, Jones, East Fairchild, West Fairchild)
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Resident Director (636 and 640 Emerson, 1871 Orrington, Allison, Hobart, Rogers, Shepard)
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