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Faculty


Robert Elias

Program Director
(415) 422-6349

Robert Elias has taught in the Politics Department at USF since 1989. He founded the USF Legal Studies and the Peace & Justice Studies programs,...

Education:

MA/PhD, Penn State University | BA, University of Pennsylvania | Certificate, University of Strasbourg

Courses:

Law, Politics, and Baseball, Great Trials in America, Politics of American Justice, Political Power and Constitutional Law, Fieldwork in Pub Int Org, Directed Study

Thomas Cavanaugh

Professor
(415) 422-6356

Professor Cavanaugh regularly teaches medical ethics, a medieval honors seminar (Boethius, Dante and Chaucer), and a first-year seminar entitled What...

Courses:

The Middle Ages: The Age of Chivalry, FYS: First-Year Seminar, Ethics, Ethics for Majors, Philosophy Symposium, Dir Reading & Research, Topics in Ethics, Ancient Philosophy, St Ignatius Institute Symposium

Danny Gascón

Assistant Professor
(415) 422-4132

Danny Gascón received his MA and BA in Criminal Justice at California State University, San Bernardino, and earned his PhD in Criminology, Law &...

Education:

BA, Criminal Justice, California State University, San Bernadino | MA, Criminal Justice, California State University, San Bernadino | PhD, Criminology, Law and Society, University of California, Irvine

Courses:

Latinx/Chicanx Cult & Soc, Latinx/Chicanx Cult & Soc, Writing in Sociology, Sociology of Law, Juvenile Justice, Criminology, Current Issues in Sociology, Career Exploration & Planning, Directed Study, Directed Reading

Kouslaa Kessler-Mata

Associate Professor
(415) 422-4372

Kouslaa Kessler-Mata arrived at USF in 2007 as an ethnic minority dissertation fellow after completing a fellowship at the National Congress of...

Education:

BA with honors, San Francisco State University | PhD in Political Science, University of Chicago

Courses:

Special Topics in Politics, Politics & the Media, Special Topics in Politics, Public Admin Internship, Directed Study

Kathryn Nasstrom

Professor
(415) 422-6074

Kathryn Nasstrom teaches in the U.S. field and specializes in civil rights history, women’s history, oral history, and memory & narrative studies...

Courses:

Women in US History, Women in U.S. History, History Internship, Directed Study, United States History Seminar

Jeffrey Paris

Associate Professor
(415) 422-5116

Jeffrey Paris joined the USF faculty in 2001, teaching courses in topics ranging from existential and postmodern philosophy, to imprisonment, to...

Education:

PhD, Purdue University,1998 | BA, Humboldt State University, 1992

Courses:

Directed Study, FYS: First-Year Seminar, Ethics, Philosophy Symposium, Cont. Ethical Problems, Dir Reading & Research, St Ignatius Institute Symposium, Expedition USF

Kimberly Richman

Professor
(415) 422-5414

Kimberly Richman received her BA at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, and her MA and PhD in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at...

Education:

PhD, University of California, Irvine | MA, University of California, Irvine | BA, Pitzer College

Courses:

Sociology of Law, Deviance and Social Control, Criminology, Senior Thesis Workshop, Sociology Capstone Sem

Cecília Santos

Professor
(415) 422-5624

Cecília MacDowell Santos received her PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master in Law from the University of São...

Education:

PhD, Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, | MA, Law, University of São Paulo

Courses:

Brazilian Culture & Society, Introduction to Globalization, Gender, Development and Globalization, Global Inequalities and Social Justice, Brazilian Culture & Soc, Current Issues in Sociology

James Taylor

Professor
(415) 422-5063

Professor James Lance Taylor is from Glen Cove, Long Island. He is author of the book Black Nationalism in the United States: From Malcolm X to...

Education:

PhD, University of Southern California (USC) | MA, University of Southern California (USC) | BA, Pepperdine University

Courses:

Special Topics in Politics, Religion & Politics, African-American Politics, Politics of the '60s in America, Race, Equality & the Law, Public Policy: Punishment, Directed Study, Special Topics

Brian Weiner

Associate Professor
(415) 422-6861

Brian Weiner received his BA from Princeton University, and his MA and PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. He specializes in political...

Education:

BA, Princeton University | MA, University of California at Berkeley | PhD, University of California at Berkeley

Expertise:

Political theory (from the ancients to contemporary theory), American political theory, Public law

Courses:

From Baroque to the Enlightenment, Proseminar in Applied American Politics, Pub Affrs & Applied Demcr Thry, Early Amer Pol & Legal Thought, Modern American Political Thought, 1865-present, From Baroque to the Enlightenment, Politics of American Justice, Free Expression and the Constitution