Faculty and Staff
Department Chair | Dept. Administrative Aide | Full-time Faculty | Part-time Faculty
Department Chair
Email: Michael.harding@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-7759
Office Location: Germantown Campus, HS 181
Biography
Born in New York, but raised in Texas, Dr. Michael P. Harding holds a BA from the University of North Texas (1999), and MA degrees in philosophy and politics from the University of Dallas (2004 and 2007). Writing on Nietzsche's political philosophy, he earned his PhD from the University of Dallas (2013). His research interests can broadly be described as the history of philosophy - especially Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke and Nietzsche, as well as the American Founders and Progressives. He recently co-edited Socrates in the Cave: On the Philosopher's Motive in Plato (Palgrave, 2018). He has been teaching philosophy at Montgomery College since 2013. His hobbies include reading, playing music, and traveling.
Educational Background
BA, University of North TexasMA, Philosophy & Politics, University of Dallas
PhD, University of Dallas
Department Administrative Aide
Full-time Faculty
Email: sadegh.foghani@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-2347
Office Location: Rockville Campus, HU 273: Germantown Campus HS 227
Biography
Sadegh Foghani obtained his PhD in History from the University of South Carolina in 2018. He taught courses in world history, history of science, history of technology, and history of Islamic societies at Auburn University and the University of South Carolina before coming to Montgomery College in 2020. Dr. Foghani received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tehran, his Master of Science Degree in Science and Technology Studies from the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, and his Master of Arts Degree in History from Iowa State University.Dr. Foghani has conducted research in France, Iran, California, Missouri, and Mexico. His doctoral dissertation explores the development of reproductive biomedicine, stem cell, and animal biotechnology since the early 1990s in Iran. When he was conducting his dissertation research, he found many revealing stories involving Iranian STEM workers who live(d) outside Iran. These stories encouraged him to study the diasporic community of Iranian STEM professionals. In 2016, he traveled to Paris and Nantes to investigate the life and career of Mehdi Bazargan, who was the first prime minister of post-revolutionary Iran. Dr. Foghani’s research investigates the role that Bazargan’s engineering background, French education, and American Pragmatism played in the formation of his religious and political thought. As a post-doctoral residential fellow, Dr. Foghani conducted research at Linda Hall Library in Kansas City in 2019, where he studied American Pragmatism and Charles S. Peirce Papers
Email: Hillary.mackinlay@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-2240
Office Location: Germantown Campus, HS 247; Rockville HU 268
Biography
Hillary MacKinlay is a native of Nova Scotia, Canada. She holds a BA in History from the University of King’s College (Nova Scotia, 2014), an MA in Canadian History from Dalhousie University (Nova Scotia, 2016), and a PhD in History from Georgetown University (2024). She has previously taught at Georgetown University and Colorado State University-Fort Collins. Her teaching and research interests include world history, the global British Empire, and indigenous responses to empire. In her spare time, she can be found doting on her two rescue dogs, Alfie the Greyhound and Autumn the Podenco.
Email: bonard.molinagarcia@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-7758
Office Location: Germantown Campus, HS 196
Biography
Bonard is an MC alumnus and loves teaching at his alma mater. From MC Bonard transferred to Loyola University Maryland, where he got his bachelor’s in biology and philosophy. Bonard then went to grad school in philosophy at Catholic U and then to law school at Georgetown. As a practicing attorney, Bonard’s work focuses on international dispute resolution. As an academic, Bonard’s work focuses on the interface between philosophy, law, and identity. Bonard is the author of Ontological Branding: Power, Privilege, and White Supremacy in a Colorblind World (Lexington: 2022). When not reading or writing, Bonard enjoys husbanding, dadding, and getting in trouble outdoors. Bonard is a native of Mexico and is bilingual in English and Spanish.Educational Background
JD, Georgetown UniversityMA, Philosophy, Catholic University
Email: sylvea.hollis@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-2345
Office Location: Rockville Campus, HU 276; Germantown Campus HS 229
Biography
Associate Professor Sylvea Hollis earned a Ph.D. in US History, with a concentration in African American History from the University of Iowa. As a graduate student they developed and taught their own courses in African American History; created civically engaged programming with the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies; and earned a graduate certificate in Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies. At Montgomery College, Hollis teaches courses in African History, African American History, Early US History, Public History, and Gender and Women's Studies.Before coming to Montgomery College in the fall of 2020, Hollis was an NPS-Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow and taught courses in gender and sexuality in the American Studies Department at The George Washington University. They earned a MA in History Museum Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program (SUNY-Oneonta) and has extensive experience in the field of public history, working with the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, American Alliance of Museums, and the National Park Service.
Dr. Hollis currently runs a blognew window that explores the intersections of archives, humanities, and teaching.
Publications
“The Rhetoric of Freedom: Remembering Slavery during the Semiquincentennial of the American Revolution,” (The Public Historian, forthcoming in February 2024)“’I like to say I’m from Birmingham’: John Rhoden’s Memory(s) of Home,” in Determined to Be: Sculptures of John Rhoden, edited by Brittany Webb (University of Washington Press, forthcoming in February 2024)
Second Author with Tondra Loder-Jackson, “Fantasizing Education for Liberation in Jim Crow Birmingham: Angela Davis’s Formative Years and Intertwined Legacy with Pioneer Educator and Prison Abolitionist Carrie A. Tuggle,” in #BlackEducatorsMatter: The Experiences of Black Teachers in an Anti-Black World, edited by Dr. Darrius Stanley (Harvard Education Press, forthcoming February 2024)
"The African American History Survey as an Intellectual Productnew window," new windowBlack Perspectives: African American Intellectual History Society--December 23, 2022
Email: Carla.naranjo@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-2241
Office Location: Germantown Campus, HS 178
Biography
Carla Isabel Naranjo is a Spanish Professor on the Germantown campus. She holds a
BA in Political Science with a concentration in Latin America from the College of
Notre Dame of Maryland (1991), a Master of Science in Spanish Language and Culture
from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. (2005), a Graduate Certificate in Spanish
Interpretation and Translation from American University in Washington, D.C. (2005)
and a Ph.D. in Instructional Leadership for Changing Populations from Notre Dame of
Maryland University’s School of Education.
She has developed Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) curriculum in
her Spanish courses since 2015 by collaborating with faculty members from universities
in El Salvador. Additionally, she serves as the co-coordinator of the Global Classrooms-COIL
Faculty Fellowship at Montgomery College. Her academic interests include the impact
of COIL on community college students, Open Educational Resources (OERs) for Spanish,
and immigration trends from Central American countries to the United States.
Before teaching, Carla was a labor organizer for over 10 years, organizing Spanish-speaking
immigrants living and working in Texas, California, and Washington, D.C. In her free
time, Carla enjoys exercising in the early morning hours and spending time with her
daughter, Reina de la Paz.
Educational Background
BA, Political Science, College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Baltimore, MDMS, Spanish Language and Culture, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Graduate Certificate in Spanish Interpretation and Translation, American University, Washington, D.C.
Ph.D. Instructional Leadership for Changing Populations, Notre Dame of Maryland University
Email: joe.thompson@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-7751
Office Location: Germantown Campus, HS 108
Biography
Born and raised in northeastern New Jersey, Dr. Joseph C. Thompson holds a BA in history
from East Stroudsburg University (1983), an MA in history from Kent State University
(1986) and a PhD in history from the University of Florida (1995). His research interests
include antebellum politics, African American history, the Civil War and Reconstruction,
and the Gilded Age. He has been teaching US history at Montgomery College since 2000.
In his spare time, Joe enjoys playing golf, reading, and rooting for the New York
Yankees.
Educational Background
BA, History, East Stroudsburg University
MA, History, Kent State University
PhD, History, University of Florida
Part-time Faculty
Email: james.furgol@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-7766
Biography
From 2012 to today, I have taught HIST 114, 116, 117, 190, 200 and 201. I am a generalist in modern world history (1500-present), but regardless of the course content, my goal is to connect the past to the present, so students have a better understanding of today’s global community.Educational Background
AA, General Studies, Montgomery College
BA, History, College of Wooster
MA, US History, College of Wooster
MA, US/UK History, University of Maryland Baltimore County