Lori Watson, Ph.D., joined the USD faculty in 2007.  She is currently assistant professor of philosophy and director of the Gender Studies Program.

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Maria Pilar Aquino, S.T.D., joined the USD Theology and Religious Studies faculty in 1993. Her primary areas of teaching and research are liberation theologies, social ethics, and feminist theologies, with special interests in intercultural approaches, conflict transformation, and religious peacebuilding studies. Currently, she serves both on national and international editorial boards of prominent theological journals.  Aquino has served as the first woman president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States, of which she is also a co-founder. She is internationally renowned for her pioneering work in Latin American and U.S. Latina feminist theologies of liberation.

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Harriet Baber, Ph.D., has been a member of the faculty since 1982. She offers undergraduate courses on logic and contemporary analytic philosophy. Her research interests are in analytic metaphysics, philosophical theology, feminism and philosophy of economics. Baber’s interests include computers, Byzantine history, and knitting.

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Susie Paulik Babka, Ph.D., is excited to be a part of the community at USD that seeks to intertwine Beauty with Justice.  Beauty is that which draws us out of ourselves toward something deeper; Justice is the practical work of transforming this world into the world intended by God: a world that celebrates the dignity of every human being, our inherent interdependence, and the worth of all creation.

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Eren Branch, Ph.D., joined USD in 1985 after working as an information officer at the Fulbright Commission in Stockholm and, before that, teaching part-time at the University of Cincinnati.  For her first twelve years at USD, she served primarily as an administrator (as associate dean and then dean of the School of Graduate and Continuing Education) and joined the English Department full-time in 1997. A native San Diegan, Branch grew up in Italy.

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Michelle Madsen Camacho is Associate Professor of the Sociology Department at the University of San Diego.  She formerly held two postdoctoral fellowships at the University of California, San Diego, at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies and in the Department of Ethnic Studies. She is fluent in both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies and uses theories from interdisciplinary sources including cultural studies, critical race, gender and feminist theories. Her research examines questions of culture, power and inequality through both macro and micro lenses. She is affiliated faculty with the Ethnic Studies program and also teaches courses for the Gender Studies and Honors Programs.

Interests
Other interests include: technological innovations in teaching, community-based learning, participatory action research, public sociology and cultural studies.  She is also a mother of three children, an avid salsa dancer, and is currently training for a half-marathon.

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Cynthia L. Caywood, Ph.D., has been a member of the faculty since 1984.  She is currently serves as co-director of the London Summer Program.  In the English department, Caywood offers undergraduate courses on restoration and eighteenth century British literature, world drama, and women's literature and graduate courses in seventeenth and eighteenth century drama.  Her research interests include Aphra Behn, Jane Austen, and August Wilson, with special interests in British and American theatre history, stage production, and feminist theory.

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Leeva C. Chung, Ph.D., has been a member of the faculty since 1998. She is an associate professor of Communication Studies and also serves as an affiliate faculty member in Ethnic Studies. Chung has developed undergraduate courses and a research agenda based on her focus on ethnic identity development among minority groups in the U.S. and intercultural issues. In addition to her teaching and research efforts, she has been actively involved in the community, specifically with the San Diego Asian Film Festival. Thanks to Chung’s efforts, the festival premiered at USD in 2000. Since then, it has gained an international reputation as one of North America's leading Asian American film festivals.

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Alana Cordy-Collins, Ph.D., joined the USD faculty in 1980.  She is a professor of Anthropology and director of the David W. May American Indian Collection and Gallery. In the Department of Anthropology, Cordy-Collins offers undergraduate courses in archaeology, shamanism, research, and writing.  Her research focus is the prehistoric cultures of Peru, especially the Lambayeque, Moche, and Chavín-Cupisnique. She is currently most involved in comparative studies of shamanism, especially among Circum-Polar peoples, prehistoric and contemporary. Dr. Cordy-Collins has been awarded two USD University Professorships, one research-based and the other recognition-based.  She designed and organized the university’s American Indian Celebration (2002-2004).

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Bahar Davary, Ph.D., 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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Teresa Elston, Ph.D., is an Adjunct Instructor in the Department of Sociology. 

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Dr. Floyd specializes in African-American literature, mixed race and ethnic studies, identity and community, and representations of children and childhood. He has recently written for and edited a special volume on August Wilson in College Literature. Dr. Floyd has been teaching at USD since 2000.

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Florence M. Gillman, Ph.D., has been a member of USD’s faculty since 1986. She  previously also served as chair of the department of Theology and Religious Studies and as Coordinator of the Ppogram in Interdisciplinary Humanities. Gillman teaches the courses entitled Introduction to Biblical Studies, Pauline Theology, The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and the World of the Bible. Her research interests include the New Testament world, women in the Pauline churches and the history of earliest Christianity.

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Carole Huston, Ph.D., joined USD’s faculty in 1989. She is a professor of Communication Studies and Gender Studies, and currently serves as the assessment director for the College of Arts and Sciences. She has taught lower and upper division courses in communication theory, research methods, interpersonal communication, intercultural communication, and the gender studies senior seminar. Her research interests include family business communication as the juncture between interpersonal and organizational communication. She has also served at the director of the Center for Educational Excellence, focusing on faculty development programs for the university community.

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Evelyn Kirkley, Ph.D., has been teaching at USD since 1995.  She is an advisor to PRIDE, USD’s organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, queer, and questioning undergraduate students and allies.  She has also served as co-director of the Gender Studies Program and director of the Faculty and Curriculum Development Program.  She teaches about the history of Christianity and other religious movements, especially in the United States.  Her research focuses on alternative religious movements (often called "cults" or "sects") in the United States and intersections between religion and gender, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation. 

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Anne Koenig, Ph.D., teaches courses such as Social Psychology, the Social Psychology Research Methods Lab, the Psychology of Gender, and Introductory Psychology. She also has an active research program, working with students on various research projects in the areas of gender issues, stereotyping, and prejudice. Koenig’s current research is focuses on issues relating to stereotype content, role congruity theory of prejudice, and the ideologies of sex differences.

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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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Belinda C. Lum joined the University of San Diego faculty in 2007.  She currently teaches courses in the Sociology concentration areas of: Community, Urbanization, and Culture; and, Power & Inequality in Global Perspective. Her areas of specialization include: International Migration; Work & Labor; Social Inequality in Urban Contexts; Race & Ethnicity; Public Sociology; and Asian American Studies. Professor Lum is a member of the On Our Campus committee, which actively promotes diversity and inclusion on campus.  She currently serves as  Residential Faculty in the Cuyamaca Building in the Vistas.

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Michèle C. Magnin, Ph.D., has been a member of the department of Languages and Literatures since 1990. She is the director of the French section. She offers courses in literature, culture and civilization, women writers, advanced writing, and phonetics. She was director of the Faculty and Curriculum Diversity Program on campus for three years.

A native Parisian, Magnin has established strong links with the French community in San Diego. She was president of the San Diego chapters of the American Association of Teachers of French, and the Alliance Française.

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Molly McClain, Ph.D., serves as director of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Program. Her work in seventeenth-century British history includes a biography of the duke and duchess of Beaufort as well as articles on Queen Mary II. She also publishes work on local history. A ninth-generation San Diegan, she co-edits The Journal of San Diego History.

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Jesse Mills, Ph.D., has been an active and dedicated member of the College of Arts and Sciences faculty since Fall 2006 . Developing an African American Studies curriculum, serving as a resource for campus-wide diversity efforts, and mentoring advanced undergraduate research in ethnic studies, Mills enjoys being a part of the USD learning community. Mills draws his inspiration from his esteemed colleagues in the Ethnic Studies core and affiliated faculty, and the College of Arts and Sciences as a whole.

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Kristin C. Moran, Ph.D., joined the Communication Studies department in 1999 as a visiting assistant professor and became a permanent faculty member in 2001. Moran offers courses on a wide range of mass media related issues such as Children and Media and International Media. Her research focuses on Spanish-language media in the United States, Mexico and Spain with special attention to the global expansion of children’s television networks. She serves as the university’s representative to the Binational Association of Schools of Communication (BINACOM), an organization devoted to cross border interaction and demystifying stereotypes through ethical communication.

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Noelle Norton, Ph.D., joined the USD faculty in 1994. She is currently serving as chair of the department and formerly was the USD Honors Program director from 2001-2008. She teaches classes on American politics, legislative politics, urban politics, and gender politics. Norton’s most recent publications have been on welfare policy, the White House Office of the President, and the institutional position of women legislators. She is very excited to extend her work into international issues with her current research project about congressional handling of international women’s rights legislation between 1990 and 2010.

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Gail Perez, Ph.D., came to the university in 1992 to teach American ethnic literature.  Since that time, she has co-founded  the Ethnic Studies major and now has a joint appointment with Ethnic Studies.  She teaches courses in U.S. women of color,  multicultural California, introduction to ethnic studies, and creative writing.  She has advised MEChA, has given the Chicano Graduation Keynote, and has been nominated as a USD Woman of Impact three times.  Her research interests include pedagogy, social space and race, and literature by women of color.

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Amanda L. Petersen has been a member of the faculty since 2008. She teaches Spanish language and Latin American literatures and cultures courses. Her areas of expertise include 20th and 21st century Latin American women authors and Latin American literature, with an emphasis on Mexican narrative. Her research interests focus on the literary representations of gender and violence in contemporary Mexican short stories by female authors.

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Eric Pierson, Ph.D., joined the faculty in 1999. Prior to joining the faculty he spent five years teaching at the University of Illinois st Urbana-Champaign while pursuing his Ph.D. He has been chair of the department since 2006.

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Alberto Lopez Pulido, PhD, is chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and Chair of the President's Advisory Board on Inclusion and Diversity at the University of San Diego. He teaches both the introductory and advanced courses for the ethnic studies major in addition to specialized courses in Latina/o and Chicana/o Studies. His scholarly interests include the intersection of race, religion and social justice in addition to the history of ethnic studies in higher education and the intersection between race, music, and biography. Pulido has published a range of numerous essays in books and journals such as the Journal of Catholic Social Thought; Crosscurrents; Religion and Literature; Journal of Religion and Education; Studies in Twentieth Century Literature;

CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies; American Quarterly; Latino Studies Journal. He is the author of the book: Sacred World of the Penitentes and his most recent book is entitled: Moving Beyond Borders:

Julian Samora and the Establishment of Latino Studies.He is currently completing a research project on deportation, violence, and migration along the U.S.-Mexico border with his colleague Dr. Oliva Ruiz. Pulido was mentored by the first Mexican American sociologist in the nation, Julian Samora, PhD, who had a distinguished career at the University of Notre Dame.

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Dr. Reifer serves on the Gender Studies Advisory Committee and is an Associate Fellow at the Transnational Institute, a worldwide fellowship of committed scholar-activists; formerly worked at Focus on the Global South in Asia and was Associate Director of the Institute for Research on World-Systems (IROWS) and the Program on Global Studies at UC Riverside. He is also currently a Research Associate at the Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems & Civilizations at Binghamton University - where he received his MA & PhD - and IROWS. His specialty is the study of large-scale, long-term social change and world-systems analysis.

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Sandra Sgoutas-Emch is a professor of psychology and director of the Center for Educational Excellence at the University of San Diego. She has been a professor at the university since 1992. During her tenure at USD, she has also been the director of the gender studies program. She teaches courses in health psychology and biopsychology. Dr. Sgoutas-Emch has research interests in the efficacy of alternative medicine, the impact of stress, and women’s health issues.

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Susannah Stern Ph.D., joined the department of Communication Studies in 2004, after teaching at Boston College for four years. Stern offers courses that investigate the role of media in contemporary life, particularly as they involve children, adolescents, and women, as well as courses on research methods.  Stern's research focuses on electronic media and youth culture, and she has conducted extensive research on the Internet as a site for cultural consumption and self-expression.

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Monica Stufft is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre Arts where she teaches courses in Theatre and Performance Studies and is involved in production work, both as a director and dramaturg. Her specializations include popular culture, theatre historiography, and cultural, gender, and performance theory. Her research focus has been on late nineteenth and early twentieth century US theatre and performance, with a new project on the intersection of performance and pedagogy in the classroom. Interests: Vaudeville, burlesque, music halls, and cabarets; multi-media performance; puppetry.

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Yi Sun, Ph.D.,  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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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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Irene Williams, Ph.D., has been a member of the faculty since 1982.  She offers undergraduate courses in nineteenth and twentieth-century U.S. literature, modern European literature, and literature of genocide.  Her research focus is literature written in New England in the nineteenth century.  She is co-director, with Professor Vidya Nadkarni, of Liberal Arts Beyond The Classroom, an interdisciplinary initiative which seeks to engage students in intellectual life outside of classroom studies and emphasizes the university's social justice mission as an indispensable component of informed participation in the world.

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Mark Wood, Ph.D., has been teaching at USD since 1997.  In addition to teaching undergraduate philosophy courses, he has been an affiliated faculty member of the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies since the inception of the Master’s Program in Peace and Justice Studies in 2002.  He is also an affiliate of USD’s Ethnic Studies Program and co-chaired USD’s Gender Studies Program for four years.  Currently he is the secretary of the International Society for Environmental Ethics.  Originally from North Dakota, Professor Woods discovered philosophy while serving in the United States Marine Corps.

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