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Faculty

Three Tenure-Track Faculty Join Humanites and Social Sciences

copper wolves at Wolf Plaza

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences welcomes three new tenure-track faculty to its ranks this year. Their scholarship and research interests range from science journalism to evidence-based practices and the links between substance use, harm reduction and drug policies. Meet these stellar scholars, researchers and teachers.

headshot of Jennifer Carroll
Jennifer Carroll

Jennifer Carroll joins the Department of Sociology and Anthropology as an assistant professor in the area of cultural anthropology, and with a specialty in medical anthropology.

  • Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Washington
  • MPH, Epidemiology, University of Washington
  • M.A., Sociology and Social Anthropology, Central European University
  • B.A., Anthropology, Reed College

Carroll is an NIH-funded medical anthropologist whose mixed-methods research investigates substance use, harm reduction and drug policy in the U.S., Ukraine and Russia. She is a consultant for the Injury Center at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is the lead author of the CDC’s 2018 recommendations for community level interventions to prevent overdose. Her book, Narkomania: Drugs, HIV, and Citizenship in Ukraine (Cornell UP, 2019), an ethnographic study in Ukraine of substance use, drug treatment, and addiction imaginaries — that is, culturally inflected views of addiction — was awarded the Heldt Prize for best book in any area of Slavic, Eastern European or Eurasian studies.

headshot of Maya Kapoor
Maya L. Kapoor. Photo credit: Luna Anna Archey/High Country News

Maya L. Kapoor joins the Department of English as an assistant professor in the area of journalism, where she will direct the journalism program, teach science journalism and participate in the Leadership in Public Science faculty cluster.

  • MFA, Creative Writing, University of Arizona
  • M.S., Biology, Arizona State University
  • B.A., Biology,  Williams College

Kapoor writes award-winning stories about science, the environment, climate change and social justice. She blends journalistic and narrative techniques to produce work that’s both deeply reported and personal. She’s currently working on a collection of essays about overlooked Sonoran desert species — including weird fish, pervasive weeds and gnarly old trees — to explore the human and natural history of the U.S./Mexico borderlands. Kapoor has more than a decade’s experience as a field biologist and environmental educator.

headshot of Terrance Ruth
Terrance Ruth

Terrance Ruth joins the college as an assistant professor with a dual faculty appointment in Social Work and Africana Studies. 

  • Ph.D., Public Affairs, University of Central Florida
  • M.A., Educational Leadership, Nova Southeastern University
  • B.A., History, Oglethorpe University

Ruth earned his Ph.D. in public affairs from the University of Central Florida and his master’s degree in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University. Using his history degree, Ruth taught high school history and science. After earning his master’s degree, he worked as an alternative education principal for five years. He is particularly interested in evidence-based practice and is actively engaged in Black communities throughout Wake County and beyond. Prior to his tenure track faculty appointment, Ruth taught in NC State’s School of Social Work as a full-time, professional track lecturer.