Faculty

Tel:(415) 422-6356
cavanaught@usfca.edu

Tom Cavanaugh

Professor

Professor Cavanaugh's research and teaching interests concern the conjunction of philosophical and theological ethics as found in everyday life as well as in the medical and military arenas. An allied area of research and teaching concerns his interest in the Western religious tradition of thought, with a focus on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition.

Tel:(415) 422-6619
edwardsw@usfca.edu

William Edwards

Associate Professor

William A. Edwards received his B.A. from Virginia Union University, his M.A. from the University of Washington, and his Ph.D from the University of California, Berkeley. Before coming to USF he taught in the Department of Sociology and the Department of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he was also a Fellow at the Center for Black Studies. His research interests include: Urbanization, consumer credit, sociology and the mystery novel, and globalization and development.

Tel:(415) 422-6349
eliasr@usfca.edu

Robert Elias

Professor

Robert Elias has taught in the Politics Department at USF since 1989. He founded the USF Legal Studies and the Peace & Justice Studies programs. He coordinates the Legal Studies, Criminal Justice Studies, and the 4+3 Law programs, teaches in the Honors Humanities and BA/MA in International Studies programs, and is the Editor of Peace Review: An International Journal of Social Justice.

Tel:(415) 422-4372
ktkesslermata@usfca.edu

Kouslaa Kessler-Mata

Assistant Professor

Mrs. Kessler-Mata's research interests include: democratic politics; the normative dimensions of policy making; negotiating political boundaries between local and tribal governments; the rights and powers of local government; and Federal Indian law in general.

Tel:(415) 422-5867
murphyp@usfca.edu

Patrick Murphy

Professor

Patrick Murphy is a Professor in the Department of Politics. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Master's of Public Affairs degree from the University of Texas-Austin. He received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame. His professional experience prior to coming to USF includes teaching as a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin. Professor Murphy also has worked for the RAND Corporation and at the Office of Management and Budget in Washington, D.C.

Tel:(415) 422-6074
nasstromk@usfca.edu

Kathryn Nasstrom

Associate Professor, Department Chair, History

Kathryn L. Nasstrom received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her area of interest include U.S. women's history; 20th century U.S.; oral history; and civil rights movements.

Tel:(415) 422-5116
paris@usfca.edu

Jeffrey Paris

Associate Professor and Department Chair

Jeffrey Paris joined the USF faculty in 2001, and has taught over twenty different course in topics ranging from Existential and Postmodern Philosophy to Imprisonment to Science Fiction. He also teaches Introduction toPhilosophy and Ethics to inmate-students at San Quentin Prison as a volunteer in the Prison University Project.

Tel:(415) 422-5414
kdrichman@usfca.edu

Kimberly Richman

Associate Professor

Kimberly Richman received her Ph.D. in Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California, Irvine. Her research interests include law and society, crime and deviance, family law, gender and sexuality, and reintegrative programming for prison inmates. She is the author of the book Courting Change (NYU Press) and multiple articles and book chapters. She is also President of the non-profit Alliance for C.H.A.N.G.E.

Tel:(415) 422-5624
santos@usfca.edu

Cecília Santos

Associate Professor

Cecília MacDowell Santos received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. She teaches courses on gender and development, globalization, sociology of law, and Brazilian culture and society. Her research focuses on legal mobilization within and across national borders, violence, memory, and women's and human rights. She is interested in investigating how legal mobilization relates to politics and shapes the recognition of violence and subjects of rights on the basis of gender, race, class, and/or sexual orientation. This was examined in her book, Women's Police Stations: Gender, Violence, and Justice in São Paulo, and guides her current projects on transnational legal mobilization and human rights in Brazil and in Portugal.

Tel:(415) 422-5319
rrsundstrom@usfca.edu

Ronald Sundstrom

Associate Professor

Ronald Robles Sundstrom is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Francisco; additionally, he teaches for USF's African American Studies program and the Master of Public Affairs program for the Leo T. McCarthy Center of Public Service and the Common Good.

Tel:415-422-5063
taylorj@usfca.edu

James Taylor

Chair, Associate Professor

James Lance Taylor is author of Black Nationalism in the United States: From Malcolm X to Barack Obama (2011). Between 2009 and 2011 he served as the president of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS). He is the newly elected Chair of the Department of Politics at the University of San Francisco, where he teaches various courses in the areas of religion and politics, race and ethic politics, law and public policy, and African American politics. His current research is on the forthcoming book manuscript, Peoples Temple, Jim Jones, and Black America. 

Tel:(415) 422-6789
mrvargas@usfca.edu

Manuel Vargas

Professor of Philosophy and Law

Manuel Vargas is Professor of Philosophy and Law. He received his Joint-Ph.D. in Philosophy and Humanities from Stanford University. His research interests include moral agency, philosophical issues in the law, and Latin American philosophy. He splits his teaching between the Philosophy Department, the Honors Program in the Humanities, and the School of Law. Website here. Course info here.

Tel:415-422-6861
weinerb@usfca.edu

Brian Weiner

Associate Professor

Brian Weiner received his B.A. from Princeton University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He specializes in political theory (from the ancients to contemporary theory), American political theory, and public law. He teaches courses in the areas of political theory, law, and American politics.

Tel:(415) 422-6193
dzartner@usfca.edu

Dana Zartner

Assistant Professor