Meet the Team

Staff

  • Dr. Micah Hughes

    Program Director & Associate Professor

    Micah Hughes, PhD, MSc, provides academic leadership, curriculum oversight, and student mentorship. He provides oversight of experiential learning programming and also serves as an Associate Professor for Public Health courses.

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  • Rev. Danté Upshaw

    Campus Pastor & Professor

    Rev. Danté Upshaw provides leadership and oversight of all Baltimore community partnerships, internships, and is the pastor and spiritual director of all programs, faculty, students and staff for Baltimore Urban Studies.

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  • MSW Leslie Whitfield

    Internship Coordinator & Assistant Professor

    Leslie Whitfield, MSW, MPH(c) serves as the Social Work Practicum Instructor and Internship Coordinator. She is the liaison for BUS students and internship sites, as well as an Assistant Professor of multiple BUS courses.

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  • Dr. Peter Baker

    Public Policy Coordinator & Professor

    Peter Baker, PhD, provides academic leadership, curriculum and internship oversight for the East Coast Public Policy offerings.

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  • Vincent Williams

    Urban Studies Enrollment Manager

    Vincent oversees the student enrollment, recruiting, and onboarding for our Baltimore Urban Studies program

  • Isis Toldson

    Resident Coordinator

    Isis is a recent graduate from Wheaton College (IL) with a BA in Biblical and Theological Studies. She has a special interest in the way our lives and cultures shape our theology, and how our theology shapes our lives and cultures.

  • Caity Wilkie

    Resident Coordinator

    Caity is originally from South Florida. As a '24 graduate of TLU with a degree in interdisciplinary studies and a concentration in Education and Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. While there she has made lifelong friends and found her love for advocacy and racial reconciliation work. Caity visited the East Coast program May 2023 and fell in love with the city.

Faculty

  • Danielle Awabdeh

    Assistant Professor

    Danielle is a second-generation Syrian/Jordanian American that earned her Master of Health Science in Epidemiology with a concentration in infectious diseases and a certificate in global health at Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelors of Science in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Westmont College. Danielle is passionate about public health education in Baltimore while she works with URC to implement interventional programming to improve maternal and infant morbidity and mortality in Asia, Northern Africa, and the Middle East.

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  • Dr. Daniel Haase

    Visiting Associate Professor

    Dan serves as the Department Chair of Christian Formation and Ministry at Wheaton College and is currently working on a PhD in Biblical Spirituality. His life motto is love to learn; learn to love as he invites students to follow Jesus. Dan is a visiting Associate Professor of Theology and an academic advisory committee member for the Baltimore Urban Studies program.

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  • Dr. Victor Papoola

    Associate Professor

    Victor Papoola, MD, PhD, MPH, MS earned a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Ilorin, and three graduate degrees from Johns Hopkins University: PhD in Public Health, a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and a Master of Science in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. Victor serves as one of the BUS Associate Professors for Epidemiology and Microbiology.

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  • Dr. Angela Howell

    Visiting Associate Professor

    Angela Howell, Ph.D., is a cultural anthropologist, professor, and interim chair of Sociology and Anthropology at Morgan State University. Angela is passionate about mentoring students towards spiritual growth and transformative social stewardship. Angela earned a B.A. of Sociology from Morgan State University, an M.A. of Anthropology and her Ph.D. of Anthropology from Brown University. She is well-published in topics related to community participation, African-American empowerment, and anthropology of liberation. Angela assists in teaching BUS Sociology classes.

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  • Dr. Wayland Cheng

    Visiting Associate Professor

    Wayland Cheng, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at Washington University in St. Louis. In addition to clinical practice, he conducts innovative research in biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology, neuroscience, and molecular cell biology. Wayland directs a laboratory at Washington University utilizing native ion mass spectrometry, photo-affinity labeling, electrophysiology, cryoEM, and molecular modeling to assist in developing novel therapeutic medications and anesthesia. Wayland is a visiting professor of microbiology and assists in the instruction of the BUS Microbiology theory and laboratory.

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  • Dr. Amanda Kaminski

    Visiting Associate Professor

    Amanda Kaminski, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Theology, Philosophy, & Classical Language at Texas Lutheran. Amanda is a vivacious educator and accomplished researcher of the praxis and intersections of theology, social entrepreneurship, and social justice. She teaches courses including, but not limited to, Biblical Spiritualities of Suffering, Social Justice, Activism & Advocacy, and Wisdom Seminar: Spirituality in Interreligious Perspective. Amanda is a visiting professor of Theology at the BUS and serves as one of the BUS academic advisory committee members.

  • Dr. Erica Avery

    Dr. Erica Avery serves as an associate professor for our Microbiology courses.

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