Meet the Students

Lea Beka

Lea Beka (they/them) is an interdisciplinary queer scholar and artist from Prishtina, Kosovo. Prior to attending the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Syracuse University, they received a B.A. at James Madison University (JMU) as a film and music double major. During their time at JMU, Beka served as a teaching assistant for multiple communication classes, lecturing on topics related to feminist perspectives, queer theory and gender performance. In their undergraduate studies, they were distinguished as a Madison Scholar and Outstanding Contributor in Digital Video and Cinema.

Beka’s work blends queer, feminist, and BIPOC theories and rhetoric with film and television, primarily through a critical cultural studies lens. They approach their work through a Marxist, postmodern and postcolonial perspective, exploring the interconnectedness of intersectionality, culture, performance, media and social justice. Their most recent publication “‘I’m Michael Jordan, I’m not Malcolm X’: Performing Authentic Black Masculinity in ‘The Boys’” dealt with critical perspectives of power, performativity and authenticity in regards to toxic masculinity perpetuated by systems of oppression within the culture of hip hop. At Syracuse University, Beka serves as a graduate assistant, teaching classes in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies.

Outside of academia, Beka serves as a director and cinematographer on both fiction and non-fiction films. Beka’s work crosses over several different genres with special focus on marginalized youth and subject-based films and has been recognized in film festivals across the globe, including Baby Teeth Film Festival in New York, DocFest in Virginia, Lift Off Film Selection in the United Kingdom, SWAN Perth International Women in Film Festival in Australia and more.

Victoria Bello

Victoria Bello is a first-generation college graduate who entered the CRS program after completing a B.A. in communication studies with a minor in screen arts at Louisiana State University in 2024. She is currently a Syracuse University Graduate Fellow. Victoria’s research interests span political communication, platform studies, feminist theory, discourses of resistance, visual culture and more.

Victoria has presented at the National Communication Association (NCA) and Rhetoric Society of America conferences, with papers examining masculinity in digital political participation, pro-Palestinian student activism and cultural representations of misogyny in film. She is also paneling at NCA 2025 on the experiences of disabled graduate students. Victoria is currently preparing presentations on strategic whiteness in political Reddit communities and the fascist aesthetics of AI-generated visuals posted by the U.S. government on social media.

In her free time, Victoria partakes in hiking, travel and activism. Her interdisciplinary approach to scholarship reflects her commitment to understanding how systems of power and tactics of resistance manifest across digital and physical landscapes.

Tom Cassara

Tom Cassara is primarily interested in understanding how disinformation spreads online and how it contributes to the rise of minor, segmented internet cults. Tom’s specialties include fascist rhetoric, conspiratorial rhetoric, digital discourse and the history of communications technology.

Tom brings worthwhile experience with him to the program, as both a lecturer and a coach. This coming March will mark his fifth annual lecture on the QAnon movement, and this past summer marked his fourth annual experience as a public speaking coach at his alma mater, Gettysburg College. Tom’s passion for teaching is undeniable, and he hopes to one day be an educator at the collegiate level.

In his free time, Tom is an avid creative. He loves writing for, and running, Dungeons & Dragons games with his friends and has a slew of associated Pinterest boards. Tom also loves to cook and to sing, often combining the two as they remind him of being at home with his parents, filling the house with the scents and sounds of tradition, community and love.

Anthoniet Essien Christian

Anthoniet Essien Christian is an international student from Ghana, West Africa, and earned a bachelor’s degree in communication studies at the University of Cape Coast. Her research interests include critical media, cultural studies, Black women’s representation, language in the context of media, African diaspora studies, visual culture and autoethnography. Her current research is titled “Carrying Home Across Oceans: Embodied Adinkra Memory, Decolonial Resistance, and Diasporic Life of Sankofa and Gye Nyame.” She completed a project titled “The Agojie Warriors and the Reimagining of Black Womanhood: Cultural Identity, Feminist Leadership, and Historical Narratives in The Woman King,” which was accepted for presentation at the National Communication Association convention in 2025.

Anthoniet chose the CRS program to deepen her expertise in communication studies and to explore the role of rhetoric in the contemporary world. The program provides valuable opportunities to develop research and teaching skills, equipping her to address complex social issues such as girl-child education. By crafting persuasive messages, understanding diverse audiences and advocating for social change, she aspires to make a meaningful impact through effective communication.

Anthoniet enjoys listening to R&B and pop music, caring for her natural hair, and singing in her free time. She currently serves as a graduate research assistant at the Lender Center for Social Justice and as a graduate student associate at the Office of People and Culture, both at Syracuse University.

Shameen Fatima

Shameen Fatima’s research focuses on rhetorical criticism, identity and cultural studies, with particular attention to how rhetoric shapes language policies, narratives of grief, trauma and identity. She completed an undergraduate degree at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) in Pakistan, where she graduated with high distinction and later received an offer to join the faculty as a research fellow and lecturer.

Alongside her academic path, Shameen has more than five years of professional experience as a brand strategist and designer, working with organizations in education, entrepreneurship and nonprofit sectors across Pakistan and internationally. She has led projects that included developing communication strategies, creating equity-centered brand identities and designing digital platforms for initiatives such as early literacy programs and community-building organizations.

Her first peer-reviewed publication examined family language policies and heritage language transmission, and she continues to develop research that bridges rhetorical theory with applied practice. Shameen is also the founder of The Disorders Collective, a community platform addressing mental health through public writing and offering support groups in South Asia. As a teaching assistant at Syracuse, she integrates her background in communication design and rhetorical analysis to help students become confident, critical speakers.

Rowan Fox

Rowan grew up on the shores of Lake Ontario just outside Rochester, a city only two hours northwest of Syracuse. In the spring of 2025, she earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from SUNY Brockport, where she developed an interdisciplinary focus characterized by research in rhetoric, philosophy, interpersonal, public, and professional communications and her minor in psychology. Rowan serves as a teaching assistant in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, where she enjoys the opportunity to mentor students in her discipline while teaching the art of public speaking and rhetoric.

Her current research interests are varied; they include autoethnography, identity construction, culture, media affect, public discourse, language interaction, critical rhetoric, hermeneutics and skepticism. She also has a passion for health and food science, which has been cultivated over the past four years of dedication to strength training and a balanced dietary lifestyle. Rowan enjoys spending her free time cooking, watching reality TV with friends, and reading fiction and novels, particularly those inspired by mythology. More recently, she has also discovered a growing interest in writing poetry.

Kennedy Jones

Kennedy Jones is a first-generation student who earned a B.A. in writing and rhetoric and Italian studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York.

Kennedy’s research focuses on sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, with a particular interest in blue-collar and working-class discourse in rural communities. As a first-generation student with deep roots in the Upstate New York rural community, Kennedy’s research is a culmination of her personal embodied experience and scholarly interests.

At Syracuse University, Kennedy has served as a judge for the White-Denison Public Speaking Competition, acts as the graduate student-faculty liaison, and participates in the Maxwell School Conflict and Collaboration program. She works as a teaching assistant in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies and has also earned a Certificate in University Teaching (CUT). Kennedy chose the CRS program for its combination of academic rigor and opportunities for meaningful campus involvement.

Outside of academia, Kennedy enjoys spending time outdoors, baking, reading “for fun” and honing her creative nail art skills!

Alexandra Klein

Alexandra Klein is from North Dakota. In 2024, she completed an undergraduate degree at Concordia College of Moorhead, Minnesota, earning a B.A. in communication studies and global studies. Her current research interests include right-wing extremist rhetoric, discourse on social media, disinformation and health rhetoric. She has presented her research at the Concordia College Celebration of Student Success Symposium (2023 and 2024) and the St. Thomas Undergraduate Communication Research Conference (2023).

In her free time, Alexandra enjoys playing the French horn, singing, reading dystopian novels and spending quality time with her miniature schnauzer Sochi.

Débora Ferreira Leite

Débora Ferreira Leite is an international student and teaching assistant in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the State University of Minas Gerais in Brazil and worked in marketing before moving to the United States in 2022. Her lived experiences as an immigrant and former au pair inform her research interests in care labor, immigration, media representation and popular culture.

Débora’s recent work examines how representations of immigrant women’s labor intersect with discourses of deservingness and the American Dream. She has had her scholarship accepted at national conferences, including the National Communication Association (2025) and the National Women’s Studies Association (2025). In both her academic and professional pursuits, Débora is committed to exploring how narratives of care and migration shape public understandings of labor, identity and belonging. To do this work and still take care of herself, Débora enjoys watching TV shows, working out, running and traveling.

Haven Nasif

Haven Nasif (she/her) is a scholar and poet originally from Boulder, Colorado. She earned a B.A. in English with minor concentrations in creative writing and women’s, gender and sexuality studies from the University of Oregon in 2025.

Her research interests primarily focus on global developments in the language of queer disability theory and bodily autonomy. She is particularly fascinated by performance studies and archival work. Nasif has been a performer of dance and poetry since her youth, and this experience has informed her creative approaches toward understanding rhetorics of the body. She also has an extensive background in creating programming around sexual violence prevention and education. She asks, how can nontraditional methods of storytelling effectively connect and preserve social movements? Currently, she serves as a teaching assistant in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies.

Nasif has published poetry in various magazines along the West Coast, including The South Broadway Press Online Journal, Spit Poet Zine and The Oregon Voice. She was a 2023-24 recipient of the Walter and Nancy Kidd Writing Scholarship for Poetry and completed multiple workshops under author Matthew Dickman.

In academic communities, Nasif highly prioritizes intergenerational community building; she was heavily involved with events surrounding Dr. Judith Raiskin’s Outliers and Outlaws project connecting lesbians of all ages in Eugene, Oregon. Outside of academia, she enjoys watching old movie musicals, handcrafting zines and hanging out with her cat, Oscar.

Emelie Nonemaker

Emelie Nonemaker graduated with distinction from Juniata College in 2025, earning a B.A. in English literature with a secondary emphasis in communication studies. During her undergraduate studies, she began developing her research focus through her project “The Influence of Social Media on Voter, Candidate and Funder Relationships within the U.S. Political System.”

Her research interests continue to broadly focus on power, media and discourse, with an emphasis on reality construction and the use of mass media as a mechanism for control. She has presented work at the Pop Culture Association (PCA) in 2024 and at the Juniata College Liberal Arts Symposium (2024 and 2025). She has professional experience writing for communication consulting in the political sphere, crafting op-eds and letters to the editor (LTEs) for campaigns, lobbyists and nonprofit organizations. She is currently a teaching assistant in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, running and reading.

Chimaobi Onwukwe

Chimaobi Onwukwe received a B.A. and an M.A. from Abia State University, Nigeria. He has an interdisciplinary background and interests, spanning from structural linguistics to sociolinguistics of migration to digital media studies, as well as critical cultural and media studies. Chima serves as a teaching assistant in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies.

He is currently working on “Memes as Monuments: Memefication, Memory-Making and Resistance in Biafran Digital Discourse.” His work explores how Biafra memes constitute post-memory, transforming historical trauma into generative political capital. Chima likes to watch soccer and hopes to use the opportunity to study CRS at Syracuse to expand his education and widen his interdisciplinary trajectory.

Elizabeth Palumbo

Elizabeth Palumbo graduated in 2025 from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She earned a bachelor’s degree in writing and rhetoric with a concentration in language as social action. Elizabeth’s research centers around feminist rhetorics and literacy as a means for liberation and oppression. She also has interest in archives and feminist historiography. She will be attending MLA 2026 to present her work on a student’s right to refuse generative AI. She currently works as a teaching assistant in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies. In her free time, Elizabeth enjoys being outdoors, reading and spending time with her family.

Andrea Schnarr

Andrea Schnarr graduated in 2021 with an undergraduate degree from Parsons School of Design in strategic design and management. Since then, Andrea has worked as a content designer and in various roles on and off set in short-format film production. Andrea brings a uniquely interdisciplinary, design strategy-informed mindset to her work in production and in her academic research. Her areas of research include feminist rhetorics, surveillance studies and performance studies.

Andrea’s undergraduate capstone, “Reality We Trust,” was selected to be presented at the Parsons BBA Symposium. The capstone revolved around gender, race, technology and debunking our perception of reality television as trash. A deciding factor for Andrea in committing to the CRS program were the faculty and resources available to further iterate this research.

Apart from watching reality television, Andrea is an avid yogi with over 400 hours of training. She also writes sketch comedy and loves to see a comedy set or go to live music events with her friends.