Cécile Accilien – University of Maryland College Park

Cécile Accilien is Professor of French and Francophone Studies in the School of Language, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Maryland (College Park). She is the co-editor (with Valerie Orlando) of Teaching Haiti: Strategies for Creating New Narratives;  co-author (with Krishauna Hines Gaither) of The Antiracism World Language Classroom and co-author (with Jowel Laguerre) of English-Haitian Creole Phrasebook. She recently published Bay lodyans: Haitian Popular Film Culture.  Since 2019 she has served as chair of the editorial board for Women, Gender and Families of Color. She served as the 2024 president of the Haitian Studies Association and board member from 2019-2022.

Nic Andre – Florida International University

Nicolas “Nic” André is a Teaching Professor of Haitian Creole and French and Director of the Haitian Studies Program at Florida International University. He just received the 2026 CLASP Excellence in Language Education Award for his work on Haitian Creole

Néhémie Bastien – Artist

Alexandra Cenatus – University of Maryland Baltimore County

Alexandra Cenatus serves as the Director of Programs at Maryland Humanities, where she works to make the humanities accessible and engaging. In 2021, she co-authored the Haitian American Dream Timeline, a digital humanities initiative that chronicles the historical trajectory of Haitian immigration to the United States, alongside collaborators Margarita Vargas-Betancourt and Ivanna Moreno. Cenatus extends her research and programming expertise through service on the Maryland 250 Commission, the Baltimore 250 Commission, and as a board member of the Haitian Studies Association.

Kyrah Malika Daniels – Emory University

Dr. Kyrah Malika Daniels is a proud Haitian American and African American scholar and an Assistant Professor of African American Studies at Emory University. Her first book (Art of the Healing Gods, Duke University Press 2027) examines Haitian and Congolese religious healing traditions. Daniels currently serves as Co Vice President for KOSANBA, the Scholarly Association for the Study of Haitian Vodou.

Francois Pierre-Louis – CUNY, Queens College

François Pierre-Louis is Professor of Political Science at Queens College and International Migration Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is the author of Haitians in New York City: Transnationalism and Hometown Association (2006), co-editor of Immigrant Crossroads: Globalization, Incorporation, and Place-Making in Queens, with Tarry Hum, Ronald Hayduk, and Michael Krasner (2021). He served as a senior advisor for the Haiti-CUNY Program to the chancellor of the City University of New York from 2011-2016.