Professor Davis is a cultural anthropologist with a doctorate in anthropology and a BA in history from the University of Minnesota. Her research and teaching interests focus on the links between the formation of urban communities, traditional and new forms of communications, policy, and cultural reform in the US and West Africa.

Before coming to Chicago, Professor Davis' last major research project studied the relocation of mainly African Americans from dismantled Southside housing projects to St. Paul, not so fondly referred to as "the Chicago people." She witnessed extreme makeovers on personal to government levels, which has been translated into a course she teaches called "Modern Makeovers of Ourselves and Our Environment." As a former media professional for PBS and cable television, her work combines textual and visual forms as do her classes exploring cultural change that include critiques of Hollywood, MySpace, and YouTube.

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