Faculty Focus: Fall 2025

By: Maisie O'Brien

The Politics of Laughter

Born the eldest child of a large immigrant family in Marseille, France, Tony Haouam developed an early understanding of language, culture, and class. His first language was sign language and he served as an interpreter for his mother who is deaf. The family faced financial hardship, and Haouam discovered that a sense of humor and the ability to make people laugh are indispensable tools for navigating challenging circumstances.

Haouam was the first in his family to attend college, earning a BA in Francophone literature and communication studies and a MA in political communication from Sorbonne University in Paris. He was drawn to cultural studies because of its critique of the hierarchies between highbrow and lowbrow culture, and its exploration of mainstream forms of popular culture, such as television, social media, comics, graphic novels, and stand up comedy.

He taught French abroad and worked as a communications and scientific officer in government and international agencies before returning to academia as a teaching fellow at Bard College. There he “fell in love with the open spirit of American universities” and went on to pursue a joint PhD at the Institute of French Studies and the Department of French Literature, Thought and Culture at New York University, alongside a PhD in media studies at Université Paris 8.

Haouam’s dissertation was on the relationship between humor and racism in the Francophone world with a focus on stand-up comedy. “There’s a lot of interest in humor because it’s the kind of quality that makes someone desirable and magnetic – it’s something to aspire to,” he says. “At the same time, it’s one of the most undertheorized forms of speech. We usually think of it as an unconscious feeling, instead of an ideology marker or a reflection of politics and culture.”

Haouam’s other research interests include graphic novels, press caricatures, comedy films, 20th and 21st century Francophone literature, West-African theater, race in visual culture, and postcolonial perspectives on North Africa. His overarching passion is teaching and helping students learn to interrogate, articulate, and debate their views on the world.

“I’ve had many lives, but being a college professor is my favorite thing in the world,” he says. “Students bring this wonderful optimism to the classroom, which is a much more powerful affect than cynicism, even when there’s a lot to be cynical about. I’m a very optimistic, enthusiastic person. I see possibilities everywhere. I study humor. I’ll never get tired of teaching.”

Haouam already feels at home in the Tufts Romance Studies Department. “I am so impressed by the brightness and intelligence of the students I‘ve met here,” he says. “There’s a sense of community, camaraderie, and trust you can feel between students, faculty, and administrators.”

Trailblazing Toward Belonging & Mental Health Equity

Demond Hill is a community-based health equity scholar dedicated to understanding and improving the mental health and well-being of marginalized children and their families. His work is driven by profound, humanizing questions: How do we create a world where Black and Brown children can live in fullness? What are the community- and grassroots-based solutions that can promote mental health equity for those existing on the margins? How can neighborhoods and built environments foster belonging and transformation?

As a former K–12 educator and mental health professional, Hill’s path to research on mental health and well-being is deeply connected to his own childhood and adolescent experiences. Despite navigating immense poverty, he learned early about the power of a life grounded in community. "My childhood was fun and beautiful; difficult and crazy,” he reflects.

Hill earned his Bachelor’s degree in Education from Edgewood University in Madison, Wisconsin, where he transformed by the writings of James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and other thinkers who continue to shape his work today. During his undergrad, he spent a year in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, teaching English and working as a community organizer and activist, which is the foundation for his passion for health equity.

Hill went on to pursue graduate study at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, earning a Master’s degree in Educational Policy Studies, where his commitment to health equity—particularly mental health equity—flourished. He later completed a PhD in Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. During this time, he worked with the San Francisco Unified School District, and designed and implemented social, emotional, and behavioral health programs for elementary and middle school children.

He draws on multidisciplinary perspectives (e.g., social work, education, public health, sociology, developmental psychology, and Black studies) and a diverse range of methodological tools (e.g., participant observations, interviews, focus groups, and spatial mapping). Together, they allow him to explore the impact of structural and systemic factors affecting the mental health and well-being of Black children, youth, and their families. “My research is very much community-based,” he says. “I try to incorporate youth perspectives and community-based participatory action approaches to identify and strengthen protective factors, which can inform policy and promote mental health equity.”

Hill’s work has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as The Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research and Social Sciences, as well as in public scholarship outlets like the Greater Good Science Center. He was recently named a Top 30 Young Innovator in Behavioral Health.

Hill is excited to join the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development where he will be teaching courses that draw on critical perspectives to deepen students’ understanding of mental health and well-being. “I’m excited to build community with the students and faculty at Tufts,” he says. “In a time when it’s easy to dismiss the importance of equity and belonging, Tufts has chosen to invest in this work. I couldn’t ask for a better place to do it.”

A New Wave of Ocean Conservation at Tufts

Covering more than 71% of Earth’s surface, the ocean is a vast frontier—yet over 80% of it remains unexplored and unmapped. Marine ecologist, Randi Rotjan, is on a mission to uncover the untold stories hidden beneath its waves.

Rotjan’s ecological career began 25 years ago with a deep fascination for coral reefs, often called “the rainforests of the sea” for their extraordinary biodiversity. She was captivated by their intricate interspecies relationships and the detailed nature of coral research. “We’re so lucky to live on a planet with such an incredible diversity of life,” she reflects. “I’ve always loved figuring out how complex ecosystems work.”

After completing her PhD in Biology at Tufts and a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard, Rotjan led the coral reef research program at the New England Aquarium. There, she conducted applied research efforts aimed at protecting and preserving marine environments. She also served as the co-chief scientist for the Phoenix Island Protected Area, one of the first large-scale marine conservation areas, and was faculty at Boston University for nine years as a Research Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer of Biology. She is currently the chief scientist at the Blue Nature Alliance, a global portfolio of marine protected areas working to protect 18 million sq. km of ocean.

Rotjan’s research spans the breadth of marine ecosystems, with a focus on evolutionary ecology in temperate and tropical coral reefs, the open ocean, and the deep sea. Her career has unfolded alongside a troubling decline in ocean health. “Ocean ecology has become a science of crisis,” she says. “I study ecosystems that desperately need protection and are suffering the consequences of human activity.”

This urgency drives how Rotjan approaches both her research and teaching. “At Tufts, I want to continue bridging academic inquiry with real-world challenges,” she explains. “In my lab, when the world presents a problem, we devise a solution, try to implement it, and then iterate. It’s a cycle of innovation and application.”

Rotjan joined Tufts to spearhead the development of a robust oceans program. Her lab will include saltwater tanks with tropical and temperate corals, and a flexible seawater experimental space. It will also host a scuba diving program, enabling students to train to the highest scientific diving standards. The lab’s research will center on conservation, ocean health, and marine ecology, with an eye towards mitigating pressing environmental issues.

This fall, Rotjan is teaching a course in population and community ecology, which is an introduction to the natural world that teaches students to transform qualitative observations into quantitative data for studying species and ecosystems.

Returning to Tufts feels like a homecoming for Rotjan, an alumna. “Tufts is a magical place,” she says. “It’s an R1 research institution with a small campus feel. I’m thrilled to work with our amazing students and collaborate with faculty who are doing vital work on ocean science. There’s so much exciting potential here.”