Faculty

Moses Bernard Phillips, M.M. and M.A., is an Assistant Professor in ethnomusicology, music theory, and cultural studies, and Chairman of the Department of Mass Communications, Creative and Performing Arts, & Speech. He was Director of the Music Department at the Harlem School of the Arts, Inc., from 1999 to 2004. Before that appointment, he was the Principal Flute of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra from 1981 to 1995. From 1994 to 1997, he played solo flute in the Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard and substituted in many long running shows including Les Misérable, Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, and Phantom of the Opera. He was the music director in a theatrical collaboration with Rudy Dee in her one-woman show called My One Good Nerve directed by Charles Nelson Reilly. At Lincoln Center, he substituted with the New York City Opera Orchestra, played in the Stage Band at the Metropolitan Opera, and at BAM he played Principal Flute in the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra’s Children’s Educational Concerts series. A music critic wrote, “Phillips possessed this vivacity, along with brilliant tone and flawless technique”. He can be heard on the Kulture, BMG, and Really Useful labels. He was the Martin Luther King-Cesar Chavez-Rosa Parks Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan and visiting guest lecturer at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Professor Azi Azadeh Amiri, M.F.A., was born and raised in Iran. She received her MFA as a studio artist at NYU. Her artworks have been exhibited nationally and internationally. She has more than 20 years experience teaching art and art history to students from a diverse array of culture and educational backgrounds. She also works with the educational department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As an art historian, she has extended knowledge of Ancient Near Eastern civilizations and the history of Islamic art.

Professor Vivian Babuts Diaz, MFA, is a fine artist and freelance photographer. As a photographer their clients have included: Guggenheim Investments, Hilton Worldwide, Luxottica, PREA/Pension Real Estate Association, MOCA/Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and MAK Center for Art & Architecture. As a fine artist, they received awards from Light Work Grants in Photography and the Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art. They received their Master of Fine Arts degree from California Institute of the Arts/CalArts. And they received their Bachelor of Fine Arts from University of Michigan with a concentration in Photography and Painting. They teach ART 100, Introduction to World Art in the Department of Mass Communications.

Dr. Myrah Brown-Green, Ph.D., is an art historian, author, arts consultant and independent curator. She is a master quilt maker with quilts in a number of prestigious collections including the Smithsonian American Museum’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Museum in Washington, D.C. and a Smithsonian satellite museum at Michigan State University. Her award-winning book, “Brooklyn on My Mind: Black Artists from the WPA to the Present” was released in November of 2018 and she is currently completing “Keepers of a Movement; the Black Collector”, due to be released in 2024.

Dr. Dwayne Bynum, Ed.D., has been teaching students at Medgar Evers College for 32 years as an instructor in the Department of Mass Communications, Creative Performing Arts, and Speech. He received much of his academic instruction from the City University and later ventured out and attended other learning institutions. In tandem with the department, Professor Bynum offers students in its prestigious Bachelor of Fine Arts program an opportunity to become professional practitioners in the communicative arts.

Professor Jimmy Jenkins Jr., M.A., is an art historian and award-winning multimedia artist and storyteller that has been featured in digital publications such as Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series, Social Miami, The Hype Magazine and VOGUE for his original LEGO sculptures. Jimmy has published a digital children’s book “SOAR!” and has collaborated with Foot Locker and Kids Foot Locker with his original designs in fashion and sneakers, as well as directed music videos for local NYC artists. Jimmy has his degree in Art and Design from North Carolina A&T State University and his master’s in art education from Brooklyn College. Jimmy studied Graphic Design and Motion Graphics at The University of North Florida and The School of Visual Arts in NYC.

Jessica Mason, M.A., is a native New Yorker who began her career working in print for the New Paltz Oracle newspaper as a Staff Writer/Copy Editor while earning her B.A. in Journalism from the State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY). She later fell in love with the camera and the ability to capture the motion and emotion of others in action. Mason obtained her Master’s degree in Media Studies from Brooklyn College/CUNY, where she was able to expand her production experience. While working on her degree, she spent years as a Field/ Associate Producer for the Emmy Award winning PBS television program Transit Transit News Magazine. She is currently managing the Adult Education department at BRIC, Brooklyn’s public access network. She is also a media Adjunct Lecture at Medgar Evers College.

Jerrick Matthews, M.M., is an exceptionally trained musician and scholar. Originally from Jackson Mississippi, he received a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Southern Mississippi. After completing his Masters degree from Michigan State University, his home base is New York City from where he travels and performs around the world for the past decade. He began teaching Introduction to World Music History at Medgar Evers College in Fall 2016 and has continued a freelance music career working with many notable artists in the Music industry such as Igmar Thomas, Damien Sneed, Michael Dease, and JD Allen. Currently, he has released works in his debut album called “Nigrum Lux” in Fall 2022 on Bandcamp and he continues his career in the New York metro area.

Roman G. Mitchell, M.A., pianist, trumpeter, and composer, is the Founder and Director of the Medgar Evers College Jazz Ensemble. He specializes in Jazz History Research and Performance. He is also a Digital Designer and has recently completed the ACUE Certificate in Effective College Instruction

Jade “Charon” Robertson, M.F.A., is an award-winning, groundbreaking intercessory artist whose work uses dance, film, writing, theater, and digital media. Robertson is the 2022-2023 New York Live Arts Fresh Track Artist in Residence, 2020 Hicks Choreography Fellow for the School of Jacob’s Pillow, and 2018 Chuck Davis Emerging Choreographer Fellow at BAM. Her films received critical acclaim since premiering online in 2016. She received an MFA in Dance from UCLA, and B.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts with a concentration in Dance and Theater from Columbia College Chicago. She is currently an Assistant Professor in Dance and Digital Media at Medgar Ever College.

Professor Jean Stamp holds an MBA from Metropolitan College of New York, a B.A. from the College for Human Services, an English Grammar Certificate from Cambridge London and three Certificates in Spanish, English, and Arithmetic (with credit) from the Royal Society of Arts also from London. Miss Stamp also received a Certificate from the College of Staten Island for their Signed Interpreters Program. As an interpreter, Miss Stamp worked in different situations such as hospitals, schools, prisons, medical, churches, and conferences. On the international level, Miss Stamp has interpreted religious conferences in Colombia, South America, Italy, and Christ Church New Zealand. Miss Stamp is an Adjunct Lecturer at Medgar Evers College where she instructs Sign language levels I and II and was the first instructor hired when the program started in 1996.