Kay Etheridge is professionally a classical pianist, music educator, piano teacher and adjudicator who has lived in San Diego since 1982.  She maintains an active performing career and each year can be heard as both soloist and chamber musician on various concert series within the southern California region.  In addition to directing the Liberal Studies program at USD, she is a member of the music faculty and teaches music history, jazz history, music education, applied piano and class piano.

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Lisa Baird, Ph.D., joined the biology faculty in 1988. In addition to teaching in the preparatory courses for biology majors, she teaches classes in plant physiology, electron microscopy and the senior seminar. Baird is a developmental plant physiologist with particular interest in plant stress responses to pathogens and insect predation and how these responses can be modulated by plant growth regulators.

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Michel A. Boudrias, Ph.D.,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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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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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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Kim Eherenman, Ph.D., has been a member of the faculty since 1990. Her specializations include Latin American poetry, pre-Columbian literatures and cultures, colonial and nineteenth century Latin American literature, and Mexican literature. Her research focus is Latin American poetry and translation. Formerly, she served as coordinator of the Latino Studies Program, executive director of the Guadalajara Summer Program, coordinator of the Spanish Area, and chair of this department. In addition, she has served as an external program reviewer for world language and literature programs at the university level. She is also a bilingual poet whose works have appeared in literary journals nationally and abroad.

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Robert Barry Fleming an Associate Professor and Department Chair of Theatre Arts at the University of San Diego joined the Theatre Arts faculty at USD in 2004. He is a director, actor, choreographer and obviously an educator. He won the SDTCC 2007 Craig Noel Award for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical (AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' at The San Diego Repertory Theatre) and a Dramalogue Award for Featured Performance in a Play (PUDDIN' AND PETE @ The Old Globe). Interests: Languages, Travel and Bebe. Professor Fleming's personal website: www.robertbarryfleming.com

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Bobbi Hansen, Ed.D., devotes primary research interest in the field of practitioner action research. She has submitted a grant to the Spencer Foundation for a Teacher as Researcher Project to study collaborative action research with twenty USD elementary credential graduates who are in their first and second years of teaching. Additionally, she is currently facilitating dialogue for a group of K-12 principals in the San Diego County to plan and carry out practitioner research aimed at creating powerful learning environment in all schools.

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Tedi Kostka has many years experience in the credentialing field, serving as credential director at San Diego State University and credential analyst at California State University Los Angeles prior to coming to USD. Kostka serves on committees and participates in statewide conferences with credential personnel from universities, school districts, county offices of education, and the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) to determine policy on credentialing. Kostka is a founding member and immediate past president of the Credential Counselors and Analysts of California (CCAC), the statewide professional organization of credential personnel, serving as vice president 2003-2005 and president 2007-2007. Kostka is a frequent contributor to credential workshops and conferences including participating in CCAC and CAEE conferences, hosting and presenting at regional forums, and attending meetings and functions of the CTC.

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Patricia Kowalski, Ph.D., has been at USD since 1989. She teaches courses in Introductory Psychology and Developmental Psychology. She is an advisor to Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in psychology. Her research interests are in the area of educational psychology including student motivation to learn, student attitudes toward learning, and factors influencing student misconceptions in psychology and education. Research students regularly accompany Kowalski to the Western Psychological Association convention or the American Educational Research Association conference.

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Judy Mantle, Ph.D., came to USD in 2001 and assumed the Deforest L. Strunk Endowed Chair in Special Education and served as coordinator for Special Education programs.  In 2006, she was appointed chair, department of Learning and Teaching.  She teaches in the Special Education program and oversees USD’s Special Education Internship Program.  Mantle has taught in and administered a variety of programs for special needs individuals from birth through the lifespan.  In 2005, she co-facilitated a partnership with Dean Cordeiro, University of San Diego, and Dr. Barbara Hecht, president, John Tracy Clinic in Los Angeles, to offer scholarships to prepare teachers of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing using distance technologies.  Mantle holds special authorizations as a trainer in the High/Scope Education Research Foundation Curriculum Method and in Mediation and Peacemaking Skills and Processes through Indian Dispute Resolution Services, Inc.  She serves as advisor to the USD/SDSU Joint Doctoral Program.  Interest areas include leadership and management of Special Education programs, early intervention, parent and family involvement, and active learning across all disability areas.  Mantle also serves on the Board of Institutional Reviewers for the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.  She was formerly president of the State of California Association of Teacher Educators (SCATE) and the San Diego Council on Administrators of Special Education (SANDCASE).  Mantle currently serves on the panel of co-editors for the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) publication, Multicultural Education, and as a reviewer for the California Council on Teacher Education (CCTE) publication, Issues in Teacher Education. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Keiller Leadership Academy.  Mantle also serves as vice president of the Board of Directors for St. Madeleine Sophie’s Center, a program for adults with developmental disabilities in East San Diego County.

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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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Duncan E. McCosker is a professor of Art and has taught undergraduate courses in a variety of media, specializing in photography.  He has taught here and in France and Japan.  His creative work in photography is focused on contemporary leisure and recreational space in Southern California and Australia with a special interest in the American experience.

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Perla Myers has been a member of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department since 1999.  She enjoys teaching classes at all undergraduate levels: core mathematics classes, mathematics classes for the Mathematics major, and mathematics classes for future and in-service elementary and secondary school teachers.  Professor Myers’ most recent work involves the improvement of the mathematical education of teachers.

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Sally Yard, Ph.D., joined the faculty in 1989, and served as chair of the department of Art from 1992 through 1997. Yard writes about art since the second world war.  Her research interests stretch from the emergence of abstract expressionism in the United States to the relationship of art and its publics—whether in the contentious terrain of San Diego / Tijuana or the reflective realm of a museum garden.

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