Hooks Institute Leadership Team
Daphene R. McFerren, JD
Executive Director
Contact: drmcfrrn@memphis.edu
As executive director of the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the
University of Memphis, Daphene R, McFerren is responsible for strategic initiatives,
program development and implementation, staff management and financial oversight of
Hooks Institute operations. Before joining the Hooks Institute, McFerren was in private
practice in Washington, DC; was senior counsel in the Office of General Counsel at
the United States Securities and Exchange Commission; was counsel to the late Attorney
General Janet Reno; and was later Assistant United States Attorney for the District
of Maryland prosecuting, among other cases, forced labor and involuntary servitude
cases involving foreign victims.
Rorie Trammel, MS
Associate Director | HAAMI Director
Contact: rtrammel@memphis.edu
Rorie Trammel is the associate director of the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change. Trammel plays an integral role in the activities of the Hooks Institute, including administrative and operations duties, fundraising and donor relations, and coordination of the Institute's National Book Award. Trammel also oversees strategic planning and implementation of the Hooks African American Male Initiative (HAAMI). Trammel is a native of Rochester, NY, and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Science, in Education, from the University of Memphis. She is also a former UofM employee, having worked in the Office of Development for fourteen years. Rorie worked for the YMCA of Memphis & the Mid-South for fourteen and a half years, first as executive director of urban programming and later as vice president for advancement. Rorie was a volunteer radio reader for WYPL, the radio station at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, for many years. She is a member of the New Memphis Institute. Previously, she served on the boards of directors for Partners in Public Education (PIPE), the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Le Bonheur Center for Children and Parents, and the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy.
Daniel Kiel, JD
Associate Director
Contact: dkiel@memphis.edu
Daniel Kiel is the Fed Ex professor of law at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, where he joined the faculty in 2008. Kiel teaches constitutional law, education & civil rights, and property law. In addition to his record of publications focusing on disparities in education, Professor Kiel is the director of The Memphis 13 (2011), a documentary sharing the stories of the first graders who desegregated Memphis City Schools in 1961. The film has been screened at universities, film festivals, museums, and schools across the country and was made possible in part by a research grant from the Hooks Institute in 2010.
The university recognized Professor Kiel on campus with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Human Rights Award (2013), the Alumni Association's Distinguished Teaching Award (2017), and various honors within the law school. He has served on the Hooks Institute's National Book Award committee since 2012 and contributed a paper to the Institute's 2018 Policy Papers series. Professor Kiel is a native Memphian and a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and Harvard Law School.
Jessyka Allen
Administrative Coordinator
Contact: jallyn@memphis.edu
Jessyka transitioned her career to the University of Memphis from the private sector in 2002, when she assumed the role of Administrative Secretary in the Department of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate in the Fogelman College of Business and Economics. In 2008, she received her Certified Professional Secretary (CPS) rating from the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP). She became the Administrative Associate for both the Department of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate and the Department of Economics in the fall of 2020, before proudly joining the Staff of the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change as Administrative Coordinator in the spring of 2022. Away from the University, Jessyka is also a writer with a creative bent toward music, art, and varied other ventures.
Amy Ruggaber
Strategic Partnerships Consultant
Contact: amy.ruggaber@memphis.edu
Amy King Ruggaber joins the Hooks Institute as an Administrative Graduate Assistant after working periodically with the Institute as a contractor since 2018 when she developed the 'Uplift the Vote' exhibit on the Fayette County Voter Registration movement. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Education, she worked as a performer, educator, nonprofit leader, and consultant.She earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of Memphis in Spring 2023. Amy specializes in creating programs that amplify the community's unique and often marginalized voices, and her work has been profiled nationally for its effectiveness and outstanding contribution to education and the arts. She has written and directed over 60 short plays with children and differently-abled individuals. Ruggaber has worked locally with ArtsMemphis, Tennesseans for the Arts, Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Company, Hattiloo Theatre, and more. Deeply committed to shining a light on the vital role of the arts in communities, she is an experienced arts advocate and has led advocacy efforts and training across the state of Tennessee and nationwide.
M. Elena Delavega, PhD
Programs Research Advisor
Contact: mdlavega@memphis.edu
Elena Delavega, Ph.D., MSW, is an associate professor at the Department of Social Work at the University of Memphis (UofM), where she teaches social welfare policy, advanced community practice, and poverty. Her research is complex and multifaceted and consists of three broad areas: understanding poverty, social and economic exclusion, and promoting social and economic development. Delavega evaluates the research component of the Hooks African American Male Initiative and plays an integral role in the writing and publication of the Hooks Institute's Policy Papers.
Marty Lang
Filmmaker in Residence
Marty Lang is an assistant professor of film at the University of Memphis. He holds two Master of Fine Arts degrees: one in film production from Florida State University and one in screenwriting from California State University, Northridge. He has written and directed two feature films, Stay with Me, the opening night film of the 2022 Southeastern New England Film Festival, and Rising Star, released worldwide by Content Film in 2013.
Lang is a prolific independent film producer. His credits include the web series The Ride, featured at the 2020 Sundance festival as a world premiere; Out of My Hand, a 2016 Indie Spirit Award nominee; and Chompy & The Girls, featuring Udo Kier, released in 2021 by Freestyle Digital Media. Lang is also writing The Self-Sustaining Filmmaker, a book about obtaining crowdsourcing, crowdfunding and community-support for independent films (Focal Press, 2023).
As Filmaker in Residence, Lang and the Hooks Institute will collaborate on current and future Hooks Institute media projects. Additionally, Lang and the Hooks Institute will strategically create opportunities to showcase Hooks Institute and independent filmmakers’ projects.