Faculty

Associate Professor Moira Gunn is a former NASA scientist, engineer and software programmer. Gunn is internationally recognized for her work with global biotechnology business and emerging global information systems. Her pioneering research continues to investigate and inform the next generation of conscientious developers and leaders in biotechnology and information systems. As one of the leading drivers behind the Business of Biotechnology Program, Gunn teaches classes on the legal, ethical...

Evelyn Y. Ho is a professor of communication studies, Asian Pacific American studies, and critical diversity studies, and a faculty chair of the Honors College at the University of San Francisco. Beginning with an understanding that communication is a cultural activity and that health care systems and beliefs are profoundly cultural, Professor Ho's teaching and research focus broadly on the intersections of health, culture, and communication, with a specific focus on the use and cultural...

Dr. Kelly L’Engle is a social and behavioral health scientist with 25 years experience in research and program development in the health sector. She joined the faculty of the Population Health Sciences Department in the School of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of San Francisco in August 2015. She has served as department chair and program director and teaches classes in program planning and evaluation, health communication, adolescent health, research methods, and applied...

Tika Lamsal teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses on rhetoric and composition, written communication, and cross-cultural communication. Through the lens of critical ethnography, Dr. Lamsal’s research examines the intersection of linguistic, cultural, and multimodal literacies of Bhutanese refugees in U.S. contexts to demonstrate how the refugees negotiate their ways to academic, cultural, and economic transition by using their linguistic and cultural repertoires in the new locale of...

Michelle LaVigne received her BA in English from the University of Texas, Austin and a PhD in Communication Studies - Rhetoric from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. At USF she teaches written and oral communication classes across disciplines and programs. Her classes focus on multimodality and publicity in academic, civic, and professional contexts. Her research focuses on the intersections between dance, rhetoric, and performance. In particular, Prof. LaVigne writes about the persuasive...

Ted Matula earned his PhD in Communication from The Ohio State University, specializing in rhetorical theory and its usefulness in studying popular culture. In addition to public speaking and written and oral communication, he teaches courses on popular culture, free speech, and communication ethics. His research has been published in Communication Studies and Popular Music and Society.

Allison Thorson is a Professor of Communication Studies, Director of the Interdisciplinary Committee on Children and Youth, and Director of the Child and Youth Studies Minor at University of San Francisco. She also teaches in the Master of Arts in Professional Communication program. Her research focuses on how individuals and families communicatively manage and maintain individual/relational well-being in the context of — often deemed taboo — unexpected, hurtful, or non-normative events (e.g.,...