Yi Sun, PhD,  has been a member of the History Department at USD since fall 1997.  She teaches a number of undergraduate courses on East Asian history and U.S.-East Asia Relations.  Currently she also serves as the coordinator for the Asian Studies Minor program.  Her research interests include Chinese women and modernization, Sino-American relations, and globalization.  She has served on the executive board of several academic organizations, including the AsiaNetwork, Chinese Historians in the United States and the Association of Third World Studies, and presently is the associate editor of the Asian section for the Journal of Third World Studies.

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Christopher Adler, PhD, is a composer, performer and improviser. His music draws upon over a decade of research into the traditional musics of Thailand and Laos and a background in mathematics. He is a foremost performer of new and traditional music for the khaen, a free-reed mouth organ from Laos and Northeast Thailand. As pianist and composer-in-residence with NOISE and co-founder of the soundON Festival of Modern Music he is active in commissioning and performing new works, and he performs and records as an improviser on piano in many ensembles.

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Bahar Davary, PhD, has been a member of the faculty at USD since 2005. She is an associate professor of Religious Studies and an affiliate member of the Ethnic Studies program. Davary offers undergraduate courses on world religions, Islamic faith and practice, diversity courses and Honors courses, as well as preceptorials. She has team-taught a study abroad course Negotiating Religious Diversity in India. At the graduate level she has taught Comparative Religious Ethics at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice. She will be team-teaching an Honors course, Women in Confucianism and Islam.

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Kokila Doshi is professor of Economics in the School of Business Administration. She joined the USD in 1988. Professor Doshi has developed two new international courses in the area of Asia-Pacific Business and Development. Recently, she also introduced another course in Tourism and Travel Economics. Professor Doshi's interest in applied economics and regional development is reflected in her economic impact studies. She conducted regional economic impact analysis of the X Games, the Rock 'n' Roll marathon, and the PGA International Golf Championship. Professor Doshi has published several scholary articles in economics and business journals. Her research interests focus on the privatization of public enterprises saving rates and economic policies of the Asian-Pacific countries. Professor Doshi has served on committees and task forces administering Irvine Grants for Cultural Diversity and Improvement of Statistical Instruction.

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Louis Komjathy, PhD, is a teacher-scholar of Daoism, Chinese religions, and comparative religious studies with an emphasis on contemplative practice and mystical experience. He also holds the position of research associate in the Institute of Religion, Science and Social Studies of Shandong University (PRC), wherein he conducts research on the history of Daoism in Shandong. In addition to his departmental and university commitments, he is  founding co-director of the Center for Daoist Studies, founding co-chair of the Daoist Studies Group of the American Academy of Religion, and founding co-chair of the Contemplative Studies Group of the American Academy of Religion. 

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Judith Liu has been a member of the sociology faculty since 1982. She is a Professor of Sociology, Affiliated faculty in the Ethnic Studies Program, and the Faculty Liaison for the Center for Community Service Learning.  Professor Liu has taught classical and contemporary theory, culture courses, contemporary social issues, and community organizing.  Her research focus is multicultural education, education in the People’s Republic of China, women and HIV/AIDS, political and civic responsibility, and community service-learning.

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Lance E. Nelson, PhD, is professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies.  He teaches courses in world religions and religious traditions of Asia.  Nelson’s research specialization is in Hindu religious history, focusing on classical systems of Hindu theology and the relation between Hindu religious practice and environmental concern.

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Lee Ann Otto, PhD, has been a member of the faculty since 1984. She is a professor in the department of Political Science and International Relations and has served as the associate dean of the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies since its inauguration in 2007. Otto is also the director of USD’s Masters Program in Peace and Justice Studies. She teaches courses on Chinese politics, Japanese politics, revolutionary change, and the law of the sea at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Her research focuses on Chinese policies relating to the war on terror and their impact on Uyghurs and other minority groups within China. She is a former recipient of USD’s University Professorship award.

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Jessica Patterson, PhD, combines interests in Asian languages and comparative religion with training in the history and theory of art. Her research focuses on the art and architecture of East and Southeast Asia, emphasizing the cultural collisions and intersections that characterized the nineteenth century. 

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Atreyee Phukan, PhD, teaches courses in world literature and post-colonial literature. Her research interests focus on contemporary literature and theory, in particular those of the Caribbean and South Asian diaspora.

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Ann Pirruccello has been teaching at USD since 1992 and is professor of philosophy.  She offers courses in Introduction to Philosophy, Asian Philosophy, Critical Comparative Philosophy, and special topics courses in Asian and contemporary continental philosophy. Her research embraces philosophies of liberation in continental and Asian thought, metaphilosophical problems related to globalization, and comparative philosophy.

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Hiroko Takagi has taught lower and upper-division courses here since 1990. Her specialization is Japanese pedagogy and instructional technology. Her recent research focus has been on motivation in elementary foreign language classes.

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Professor Takahashi teaches elementary and intermediate Japanese at USD and also runs a small, private school in San Diego.  Since 2003, he has volunteered to teach Japanese at a high school in Mongolia for one month every summer. He does this because he believes that a sound education is necessary to prepare Mongolia's future leaders. Studying abroad is an enrichment opportunity that most cannot afford, however, about 100 of these students have been able to study at universities in both Japan and the U.S. with the help of scholarships awarded to them by the schools.

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Karma Lekshe Tsomo, a specialist in Buddhist studies, has taught at USD since 2000. She offers classes in Buddhist Thought and Culture, World Religions, Comparative Religious Ethics, Religious and Political Identities in the Global Community, and Negotiating Religious Diversity in India. Her research interests include women in Buddhism, death and dying, Buddhist feminist ethics, Buddhism and bioethics, religion and politics, and Buddhist transnationalism. She integrates scholarship and social activism through the Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women and Jamyang Foundation, an innovative education project for women in developing countries, with 15 schools in the Indian Himalayas, Bangladesh, and Laos.

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Ying Zhou is professor of Chinese in the Department of Languages and Literatures. She joined the USD in 2010. Professor Zhou is interested in Chinese grammar and teaching Chinese as a foreign language.

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