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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Michel A. Boudrias, PhD,has been on the faculty since 1996 and is currently chair of the department and Chair of the university's Sustainability Task Force.  Boudrias teaches classes that cover a wide range of topics from introductory marine biology to interdisciplinary coastal environmental science to classical invertebrate zoology.  He has taught Honors courses that combine traditional classroom concepts with intense field experiences. His research projects include long-term interdisciplinary projects combining marine ecology and marine chemistry in Baja California Sur and an integrated project studying the social, cultural and environmental impacts of tourism in Jamaica. 

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Maria Carrera has taught the Alexander Technique for the MFA program since 1990. She trained at A.T.I. Los Angeles, with post-graduate study in the US and abroad. Certified by the American Society for the Alexander Technique, she has also served on its national board of directors. Her theatre background includes credits as a producer, director and playwright, and over a dozen years as a stage manager at the Old Globe Theatre. She maintains a private teaching practice in San Diego

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Cynthia L. Caywood, PhD, 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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Casey B. K. Dominguez, PhD, joined the USD Political Science faculty in 2005. Her research interests include congressional elections, political parties, campaign finance, and the presidency. She teaches upper and lower division classes on American Politics, as well as an upper division class on research methods.

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Dr. Drinan joined the USD faculty in 1981.  He has served as chair of the Department from 1981-1989 and also as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1989-2006.  He currently is on phased retirement and teaches only in Fall semesters, usually a class in international relations.  His most recent research and publications have been on public policy issues in higher education, especially management of academic integrity issues.  Dr. Drinan  has received a lifetime achievement award from the international Center for Academic Integrity for his work on academic integrity.

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Emily Edmonds-Poli , PhD, joined the USD faculty in 2001. She currently serves as the director of the MA program in International Relations. Edmonds-Poli teaches classes on international relations and Latin American politics. Her research focuses on local and state level politics in Mexico, as well as decentralization and democratization in Latin America.

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Hugh Ellis, PhD, came to the Biology Department in 1980 after teaching three years at Iowa State University.  He is a physiological ecologist and teaches several ecological courses as well as two of the preparatory courses for the Biology and Marine Science majors.  His research is in the energetics of birds, looking at such topics as energy budgets, migration, and diving.  He has been a visiting research scientist at the University of Hawaii, Sydney University (Australia), and the Archbold Biological Station (Florida).  Dr. Ellis is affiliated with the Marine Science graduate program and is involved with the Center of Comparative Physiology in the Biology Department.

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Iris H. W. Engstrand, PhD, is a native Californian. Engstrand’s academic honors include USD’s distinguished University Professorship; the Davies Award for Faculty Achievement; Awards of Merit from the San Diego, Southern California, and California Historical Societies, Western History Association, and Orange Coast College; fellowships from the Fulbright Commission, American Philosophical Society and Huntington Library; and the California Design Award in Historic Preservation. She is a trustee of the San Diego Natural History Museum and the San Diego Maritime Museum, past president of the American Historical Association Pacific Coast Branch and of the Western History Association. Engstrand has lived and traveled extensively in Spain and Mexico and lectures widely in both English and Spanish. She has degrees in history, with maors and minors in the fields of California, Mexico, Latin America and the Spanish Southwest history, biology and Spanish

Engstrand has recently been awarded the prestigious medal of the Order of Isabel la Católica (Isabel the Catholic -- ruler of Spain in 1492) by Juan Carlos, King of Spain, for outstanding contributions to the history of Spain in the Americas.

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Orlando Espín, Th.D., has been a member of the USD faculty since 1991. He is professor of systematic theology in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. He is also director of USD's Center for the Study of Latino/a Catholicism, which he founded in 1994.  Espín has twice served as president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (of which he was one of the founders), and has also served on the boards of directors of the Catholic Theological Society of America and of the Hispanic Summer Program in Religion and Theology. Espín has received an honorary doctorate and an honorary professorship. He founded and was first chief editor of the Journal of Hispanic/Latino Theology. He is active in the San Diego Latino/a community, as well as nationally in Latino/a theological research and educational projects.

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Colin Fisher, PhD, conducts research in the field of U.S. environmental history. He offers classes in environmental history, history of the American West, and public history.

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Russell Fuller, PhD, joined the faculty of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies in 1992.  He is a professor of biblical studies with a specialty in the area of Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the religion of ancient Israel.

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Gerhard has been teaching yoga for over 18 years. He is trained in a variety of different styles of Hatha Yoga, including Ashtanga, Iyengar, Bikram Ananda and Contact Yoga. His non-dogmatic approach to yoga is eclectic and combines elements of all the styles he has studied, tailored to the needs of his students. Gerhard is owner and Director of Prana Yoga Center in La Jolla, California.

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Florence M. Gillman, PhD, 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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Jan Gist has been the Resident Voice and Speech Coach at The Old Globe since Summer 2001. Prior to that, she was the Voice and Speech coach at Alabama Shakespeare Festival for 140 productions.

Other credits include Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespearean Festival, The Shakespeare Theatre, Arena Stage, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, PlayMakers’ Repertory. Film credits include The Rosa Parks Story. Other teaching credits include California State University, Long Beach, Cal. Rep. Co., PlayMakers’ Rep., Voice And Speech Trainers Association Conference, Shakespeare's Shapely Language, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Carnegie Mellon University.

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Michael Gonzalez, PhD, began teaching at the University of San Diego in 1995.  He currently is director of the History Masters program.

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Sarah Gray, PhD, teaches courses in geological oceanography, paleoclimatology, climate change, environmental geology, and earth science.  These courses include hands-on field and lab-based research experiences.  Gray conducts research in paleoclimatology, marine sedimentation, the geology of coral reefs and environmental proxies recorded in the geochemistry of coral skeletons.  Current research includes a study of the impact of watershed development on sedimentation on fringing coral reefs in the U.S. Virgin Islands and a synthesis of multi-century climate cycles preserved in the geologic record. Her PhD dissertation was entitled “Late Quaternary History of Reef Growth, Sea Level, and Diagenesis from three Cook Islands Atolls”.

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James O. Gump, PhD, has been a member of the faculty since 1981.  He currently serves as an associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. In the History Department, Gump offers undergraduate courses on war and peace in the modern world, history of Africa, rise and fall of apartheid, and modern Europe.  His research focus is comparative, South African, and Native American history, with special interests in ethnic conflict, state-sponsored violence, and transitional justice.

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Ron Kaufmann, PhD, joined the USD faculty in 1997 and currently serves as director of the Marine Science Graduate Program.  His areas of specialization are ecology and environmental biology, and his teaching includes courses in biology, environmental studies and marine science, as well as interdisciplinary courses that are team-taught with colleagues in the humanities. Kaufmann’s scholarship focuses on biological communities and their dynamics as well as their responses to changing environmental conditions. He has studied marine communities in extreme environments such as the Antarctic and the deep ocean.

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Evelyn Kirkley, PhD, 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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Dennis W. Krouse, S.T.D., has been a member of the faculty since 1974. He  specializes in the areas of liturgical studies and sacramental theology.

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Virginia Lewis, PhD, has been a faculty member at USD since 1980. She has been deeply involved in university governance, and has made student learning her mission. From directing the Oxford program for ten years and serving as faculty advisor to student groups, to teaching courses in her research areas,  Lewis sees the university as a student-centric community. She has been chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations, chair of the College of Arts and Sciences Academic Assembly, and a member of the University Senate.

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Mary Sue Lowery, PhD, joined the biology faculty in 1990.  She teaches preparatory courses for biology majors, as well as biological oceanography and interdisciplinary team-taught honors courses.  Lowery is a comparative biologist with particular interest in the effect of endurance swimming on the development of muscle in juvenile marine fishes.

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Molly McClain, PhD, 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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Vidya Nadkarni, PhD,  joined USD’s faculty in 1990. Nadkarni teaches courses in the area of international relations and foreign policy.  Her research interests center on the foreign policies of resurgent (Russia) and aspiring (China, India) global powers. 

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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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Noelle Norton, PhD, joined the USD faculty in 1994. She is currently serving as an Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences while maintaining her faculty role in the department.  She most recently served as chair of the department and formerly served as 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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Bethany O'Shea, PhD, teaches courses in environmental geology, earth science, and geochemistry of ocean and continental waters. All of these courses use the environment as a natural laboratory and include interactive problem solving and thought provoking learning techniques. Dr. O'Shea is interested in the cycling of metals, nutrients, and contaminants in the environment; specifically controls on the movement and distribution of trace elements in groundwater, lakes, and sediments. She welcomes the opportunity to teach and mentor students interested in the earth, marine, and environmental sciences.

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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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Father Ron Pachence, PhD, joined the faculty in 1981. He has served as department chair, founding director of the Institute for Christian Ministries, and director of graduate programs in the department. He is active in shared governance, having served on numerous committees and as chair of the University Senate. His teaching expertise is in the areas of Catholic theology and world religions. Pachence is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Turkey) and a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia.

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Maria Pascuzzi, S.T.D., has been a member of the faculty since 2000.  She teaches undergraduate courses on the critical study of the Bible, especially in the area of New Testament.

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Michael R. Pfau, PhD, has been at USD since 1989. He teaches Research Methods in Political Science and International Relations and occasionally seminars on Politics in (his native) Germany. His research focuses on cross-national public opinion formation, specifically, on how US (foreign) policy is perceived by publics abroad. On that issue, he consults with a variety of political and corporate interests. He has chaired the department and has won the American Political Science Association’s teaching award.

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Patricia A. Plovanich has been a member of the faculty since 1990. She is Assistant Professor of Systematic theology. In the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, she offers undergraduate courses in theological topics such as Jesus in Christian Tradition, the Problem of God, and Catholicism in the United States. Her research interests are theology of Cardinal Walter Kasper and the European theologians who pioneered many of the themes of the Second Vatican Council.

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Nathalie Reyns, PhD, teaches core and upper division courses in oceanography, marine ecology and how humans impact the oceans. Reyns’ research interests focus on identifying the factors that influence the dispersal of marine organisms, to better understand the population dynamics of these organisms and the implications for fisheries management and marine conservation. Reyns is also very interested in advancing marine science education and improving ocean literacy, and regularly provides research opportunities for undergraduate students.

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Fred Miller Robinson, PhD, served as chair of the English Department from 1991 until 2005.  From 2005-06 he was interim director of the Theatre Arts program, and from 2009 he has served as the chair of the Music Department.  He has taught a variety of undergraduate courses in modern literature, including Modern Poetry, Modern Drama, Narrative Theory and Writing Autobiography, and a text course in modern drama to the USD/Old Globe MFA students.  His research focus has shifted from comic theory to cultural studies: a social history of The Man in the Bowler Hat and, currently, the interculture of Ireland and the U.S. Robinson also taught for a year (each) at the Universite de Haute Bretagne in Rennes, France, and the University of Kent in Canterbury, UK.

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An award-winning actor and director, Richard Seer has directed and/or performed on Broadway, off-Broadway, on film and television, and in over seventy productions at regional theatres in this country and Great Britain, including: The Goodman Theatre, The Kennedy Center, The Stratford Shakespeare Festival, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, Washington’s Playwrights’ Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Studio Arena Theatre, The Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, and The Sybil Thorndike Repertory Theatre in England, to name a few. 

He originated the role of Young Charlie in the 1978 Tony award-winning production of Hugh Leonard’s Da.  He received the Theatre World Award for his performance.  As The Old Globe’s resident director, he has directed productions of The Price, Romeo & Juliet, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Trying, Fiction, Blue/Orange (Critics Circle Award), All My Sons, Da, and Old Wicked Songs (Patte Award). Other recent directing assignments include Third for the Huntington Theatre Company and Sonia Flew for the San Jose Repertory Theatre. 

He received his Master of Fine Arts degree in directing from Boston University, where he was awarded the prestigious Kahn Directing Award in 1985.  In 1990 he was invited to return to Boston University’s School for the Arts as an Associate Professor of acting and directing.  Professor Seer has been Director of The Old Globe/University of San Diego Graduate Theatre program since 1993.

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Kenneth P. Serbin, PhD, professor and chair in the department of History, is the immediate past president of the Brazilian Studies Association (2008-2010). He also served as the co-chair of the Brazil Section of the Latin American Studies Association (2003-2006).

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David A. Shirk, PhD,  joined the University of San Diego in July 2003. Shirk’s teaching covers a wide range of subject areas, mainly concentrated in comparative politics, international political economy, Latin American studies, and U.S.-Latin American relations, with a concentration in Mexico and border politics. He conducts research on Mexican politics, U.S.-Mexican relations, and law enforcement and security along the U.S.-Mexican border. Shirk also directs the Trans-Border Institute, which works to promote greater analysis and understanding of Mexico, U.S.-Mexico relations, and the U.S.-Mexico border region.

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Kathryn C. Statler, PhD, has been a member of the faculty since 1999.  She is the coordinator of the Peace and Justice Studies minor. Statler offers undergraduate courses on the Vietnam wars, U.S. foreign relations, history of France, peace and justice studies, and armed conflict and American society.  Her research focus is international and multidisciplinary, with an emphasis on alliance politics and cultural diplomacy.

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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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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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J. Michael Williams, J.D., PhD, is an alumnus of the University of San Diego (1992) and has been a member of the faculty since 1999.  He currently serves as the chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations. Williams offers undergraduate courses on introduction to political science, comparative politics, politics in sub-Saharan Africa, and politics in South Africa. His research focuses on African politics, with special interests in democratization, indigenous political structures, local governance, rule of law, the courts and constitutionalism.  He has published numerous articles and one book on the chieftaincy in South Africa - Chieftaincy, the State, and Democracy: Political Legitimacy in Post-Apartheid South Africa (Indiana University Press, 2010).

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Randy Willoughby, Ph.D, has been on the USD faculty since 1988 and teaches course on comparative politics and international security. His undergraduate education began at the University of California at Irvine and concluded at UCLA. His graduate education was at the University of California at Berkeley, preceded by a year of study in Paris, and including a year working in the Executive Office of the President in Washington DC, a year teaching at the University of Santa Clara, and two years participating on a research project at the University of California at San Diego.

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Zhi-Yong Yin, PhD, came to USD in 2003 after teaching at Georgia State University in Atlanta for 12 years. He offers classes in earth science, geographic information systems (GIS), and remote sensing. His research focus is hydroclimatology, with special interests in recent and past climate variations and the impact on hydrological systems and water resources.

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