Dr. Martin Atangana holds a Ph. D. in History from the University of Paris 1-Sorbonne, a M.A. in History from the University of Paris X-Nanterre, and a B.A. from the University of Yaoundé. He is currently a Professor of History at York College and The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His research interests focus on the relationship between West Africa and Europe with a special emphasis on Franco-Cameroonian relations. He is the author of Capitalisme et Nationalisme au Cameroun au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, French Investment in Colonial Cameroon, The End of French Rule in Cameroon, and many articles. In addition to doing research and teaching, Dr. Martin Atangana is an accomplished musician who had worked with artists such as Paul Simon, Jean Luc Ponty, Many Dibango, and Ronald Shannon Jackson. He frequently performs with his band “African Blue Note”. His solo albums include "Oyenga Fam" and "Mot Songo".

Roberto M. Benedito is a Doctoral Lecturer in the Cultural Diversity Program of the Department of History and Philosophy.  He is a lawyer with a Ph. D. in Anthropology (SUNY at Buffalo).  He currently serves as a member of the Outcomes and Assessment Committee, an advisory body to the President.  

Benedito's research deals with law, culture and anthropology.  His area specialty is Southeast Asia particulary the Philippines, where he was from originally and worked as a lawyer and human rights advocate.  He has studied law, culture and legal consciousness among indigenous peoples of the Philippines.  He has published articles on the impact of state and international law on indigenous peoples rights specifically their ownership to ancestral land.  A common theme in his research is the significance of cultural practice in law and legal institutions. 

Analysis of early European, especially French, interaction with indigenous peoples of the Americas, with specific focus on Catholic missionary activity, and also the impact of concepts of gender on the colonial encounter.

My main field of research focuses on the migration and conditions of indentured workers from the subcontinent of India to the Caribbean in the 19th and 20th century. It examines, inter alia, post-emancipation labor problems in the Caribbean, the reasons for Indian emigration overseas, the labor recruiting system, depot accommodation, conditions on the voyage, the iniquitous indenture system, labor resistance, race relations, the campaign for the abolition of indenture in India and the planters’ efforts to introduce additional Indian labor on a Colonization Scheme.

Theatre Arts Professional with over two decades of experience in theatre administration, performing, programming, and production overlapped with twelve years practice as an Adjunct Professor, Arts Educator and promoter of the core benefits of cultural diversity.

I have spent many years studying US ethnic, immigration and labor history.  In so doing I have focused on 19th century nativism, organized labor, and the needle trades.  Currently I am studying the first two decades of York College, with an emphasis on the political and social developments of the 1960s and 1970s that account for its birth, location and struggle for survival.

Howard Ruttenberg began at York College as an Instructor while still working on his dissertation with Richard McKeon at The University of Chicago, becoming an Assistant Professor in 1974.  In his 40 years at York, he has taught most of the courses in Philosophy, two in Speech, three in Political Science, CLDV 210 and Academic Computing 101.  He has participated in every major curriculum reform at the College.  He studied psychoanalysis at the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies to develop his teaching methods and was his Department's chairperson for 16 years.  He has now returned to full-time teaching and scholarship.

Dr. White’s first book Holding the Line: Race, Racism, and American Foreign Policy Toward Africa, 1953-1961 was published in 2005.  His second book will be an edited volume of the papers of a World War II Chaplain, entitled “On the Battlefield For My Lord: The Papers of Rev. Robert Boston Dokes in World War II.”  In addition to his Ph.D., Dr. White also has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and has taught courses or portions of courses on the impact of the American legal system on society.