Africana studies Prof. Ashley Brown Burns, an expert in American race politics and public policy, and Classics Prof. Samuel Ortencio Flores, a master of philosophy and classics, joined Gettysburg College's faculty this fall as Derrick K. Gondwe Scholars. 

We recently had a chance to catch up with Burns and Flores. Find out more about the Gondwe Scholars program, Burns, and Flores below.

The Gondwe Scholars program, dedicated to increasing faculty diversity, memorializes economist Dr. Derrick K. Gondwe, who died in 2004 after teaching for 27 years at Gettysburg College, where he founded what is now the Africana Studies program. Born in Malawi, Gondwe was the first black person to earn tenure and become a full professor at the College.

The Gondwe Scholars program allows scholars to focus on scholarship by giving them substantial time for research, but also giving them ample time to plan out the course they are teaching.

Burns and Flores both attended liberal arts schools as undergraduates, so they are enjoying Gettysburg's liberal arts atmosphere. “Being at Gettysburg College has given me the opportunity to meet scholars, professors, and students across a broad range of academic fields and on a more individual level than I would be able to at a larger university,” said Flores. “I hope to contribute to the college's academic culture both inside and outside the classroom.”

“The people are the highlight of Gettysburg,” Burns agreed. “The faculty, staff, and students are all focused on investing in each other. It's a great environment to learn and live in. I feel honored to have this opportunity.”

Burns and Flores also feel strongly about the importance of diversity on campus and are proud to contribute to that as Gondwe Scholars.

About Burns

Ashley Brown Burns is a PhD Candidate at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Ashley completed her Masters in Public Policy and Graduate Certificate in African and African American Studies at Duke. She received her BA in Political Economy from Williams College. She is passionate about community outreach, especially in her hometown of New Orleans; and, has been the Director of the Duke Engage New Orleans civic engagement program for the past five years.

Burns will be teaching Perceptions vs. Realities: Poverty, Race and Housing Policy in Urban America in the Spring of 2013 as a part of the Africana studies department. This semester, Burns is working on research in the demolition of public housing communities in the south, gentrification, and race politics. In her research, she will be looking at issues of class and the way that lower income groups are affected after gentrification occurs.

About Flores

Samuel Ortencio Flores is a PhD candidate at The Ohio State University in the Department of Classics, where he also earned his M.A. in classics in 2008. He earned his B.A. with a double major in Latin and English with minors in Greek, philosophy, and creative writing at John Carroll University in 2007. His dissertation is entitled The Roles of Solon in Plato’s Dialogues, and it is a study of Plato’s use of Solon as a powerful rhetorical figure vis-à-vis the establishment of the practice of philosophy in fourth-century Athens.

Flores' recent work looks at Plato's dialogues in their literary context amidst Greek poetry, historiography, and oratory. He is currently teaching Latin 101 as a part of the classics department.

Founded in 1832, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with a strong academic tradition that includes Rhodes Scholars, a Nobel laureate and other distinguished scholars among its alumni. The college enrolls 2,600 undergraduate students and is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.

Article by: Emily Kleinburd '13, communications & marketing intern
Contact: Nikki Rhoads, senior assistant director of communications, 717.337.6803