Showcased Faculty

James Garcia

Dr. James J. García’s research focuses on racial/ethnic and LGBTQ+ People of Color health disparities. From January 2022-August 2024, Dr. García, produced an impressive eight peer-reviewed journal articles and four peer-reviewed book chapters for a total of 12 peer-reviewed publications in just two years! Across 2022-2024, he has collaborated with students in research mentorship, which resulted in 23 accepted poster presentations to local, national, and international conferences. Serving as Vice President of Outreach and Community Engagement for the Pomona Pride Center, he received grant funding from the State of CA Department of Health Care Services in 2022 to increase the visibility of the center and lead efforts to decrease substance use risk in LGBTQ+ persons in the Inland Empire. Therefore, Dr. García is a stellar candidate for excellence in Scholarly and Creative Activities.

Hyunsu Kim

Hyunsu Kim, Assistant Professor of Management, has published several peer-reviewed articles on consumer behavior and service innovation, in top-tier journals in hospitality and tourism management. In 2024, Hyunsu was honored with the College of Business and Economics (CBE) Scholar Award, bestowed on faculty members who have published peer-reviewed journal articles of the highest quality during the previous calendar year, as well as the CBE Continued Excellence in Publication Award. Hyunsu has also successfully secured a number of research grants, including one from the Hospitality and Tourism Research Centre at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, to investigate employee perspectives on the involvement of artificial intelligence in human resource management. Currently, he serves on the editorial boards of two high impact academic journals: the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and the Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management.

Michaela Bettez

From 2022-2024, librarian Michalea Bettez authored two peer-reviewed journal articles, a book chapter, and presented at four national and regional academic conferences. This exceptional scholarship includes engaging original research on open educational resources in art curriculum, preventing burnout in new faculty hires, and incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in library instruction practices. Notably, Michalea has also published in film criticism and popular culture in her work “Victims vs. Survivors in the Rape Revenge Fantasy: A Comparison of Black Christmas (2019) and I May Destroy You” and "Monstrous Older Women: Horrific Representations of Older Women's Desire and Sexuality in Genre Films.” Michaela’s contributions demonstrate exceptional scholarly and creative engagement and encourage a culture of collaboration among her library peers.

Mary Anna Pomonis

Art Education Professor opens 2 museum shows and a solo exhibition in less than 3 months while sponsoring undergraduate student research projects working with formerly incarcerated individuals.

David Sandner

David Sandner's recent books include novella His Unburned Heart (about Mary Shelley), novel Egyptian Motherlode, and collection The Afterlife of Frankenstein: A Century of Mad Science, Automata, and Monsters, 1818-1918. Enter the Frankenverse!

Erin Besser

Dr. Erin Besser’s research focuses on leveraging technology to enhance teaching and learning in the context of teacher education. Between January 2022 and August 2024, Dr. Besser has published three peer-reviewed articles, one book chapter in a peer-reviewed edited volume, and a revised book chapter in an updated edition of a seminal instructional design text, along with two additional publications. She has one article pending revisions and three more in progress (one in data collection and two in data analysis stages). Additionally, she has delivered three scholarly presentations. Dr. Besser was granted early tenure in 2023 and has consistently exceeded the criteria for “excellent” in scholarship and creative activities.

Mugdha Yeolekar

Some highlights of my scholarly contributions from 2023-4: presentations in three international conferences, publications three peer-reviewed articles, facilitation of led the Spicing Academia Project in the Humanities, organization of three campus-wide lectures, mentoring a doctoral student in India, Digital Humanities Fellow at CSUF, steering committee leadership on the Interreligious friendship seminar at the American Academy of Religion.

William Marelich

Over the past 3-years, I have been lead/coauthor on 3 articles/monographs, 1 encyclopedia entry, and 8 conference presentations including those for the Association for Psychological Science (APS) and the American Psychological Association (APA). Of particular interest is my 2024 lead author paper in Health Psychology - Predictors of Serostatus Nondisclosure in Mothers Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Receiving a Disclosure Intervention: Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial Intervention Arm. Health Psychology, 43(9), 663–672.

Emily Kuffner

Dr. Kuffner’s research focuses on Early Modern Spanish literature and gender studies. During the review period, Dr. Kuffner published four peer-reviewed journal articles, three book chapters, an encyclopedia entry, and four book reviews, and directed a Scott Jewett award with the Grupo de teatro en español.

Hyun Sook Kim

Hyun Sook Kim was selected as one of the only seven juried costume designers to represent U.S.A. in the prestigious '2023 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space' International Conference & Exhibition. Also, Kim's work was juried and selected to be presented in the '2024 Critical Costume' International Exhibition and Conference.

Brenda Bowser

Brenda Bowser is a Professor of Anthropology, was nominated for the 2024 Faculty Recognition for Scholarly and Creative Activities Award for her book Landscapes of Movement and Predation. Co-edited with Catherine Cameron and published by the University of Arizona Press, this book is the result of Bowser’s extensive collaboration with an international, interdisciplinary community of scholars. Bowser and Cameron received the prestigious Amerind Studies in Anthropology award at the 2022 Society for American Archaeology conference to produce this work. The book emerged from an Amerind Seminar, a competitive annual symposium hosted by the Amerind Foundation and co-sponsored by the Society for American Archaeology and the University of Arizona Press. Additionally, it was selected for open-access publication by a consortium of presses. Landscapes of Movement and Predation is praised for its innovative decolonizing perspectives on Native peoples’ experiences of refuge and societal rebuilding in response to colonial violence.

Guadalupe Espinoza

Dr. Espinoza's research program examines how adolescents' peer relationships shape their psychological and school adjustment. She is a leading expert on school bullying and cyberbullying experiences among Latinx adolescents.

Julie Brice

Dr. Brice's second co-edited book about the FIFA Women's World Cup, "Critical Perspectives on the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup: Events, Issues, Controversies" was recently submitted and will be published in 2025.

Brandi Wells

In September 2023, Brandi Wells’s debut novel, The Cleaner, was published by Wildre/Hachette Book Group in the UK, followed by a US release by Hanover Square Press/HarperCollins in January 2024.

Sinjini Mitra

Dr. Mitra has been involved in several collaborative and interdisciplinary research projects in the areas of security, education, healthcare, information systems, and so on. One of Dr. Mitra’s recent co-authored conference papers won the “best paper award” in management education from the prestigious Academy of Management in 2023.

Desen Lin

Dr. Desen Lin, an assistant professor of finance, does research on real estate finance and economics. His studies examine the issues in real estate markets, community divestment and housing affordability, raising public awareness and guiding local policymaking.

Grace Yi

Dr. Yi is a gerontological social work scholar dedicated to advancing health and socioeconomic equity for ethnically diverse older adults and their families, with a particular focus on Asian American and immigrant communities.

Sampson Akwafuo

Supported by NSF’s grant, Dr. Sampson Akwafuo’s research focuses on developing machine learning tools and optimization algorithms, for managing volatile public health emergencies and global viral disease outbreaks.

Lohuwa Mamudu

Dr. Lohuwa Mamudu, Assistant Professor of Public Health is awarded faculty recognition for  his excellence in research, scholarly, and creative activities from 2022 to 2024.

Mun Chee Yong

Nominated for a Golden Horse Award, Mun Chee's latest work "4 Sundays in September" centered on the experience of Mari, an Indonesian migrant worker who decides to abort her baby to avoid deportation. Most of her cast were real life migrant workers in Singapore, including the lead actress.

Stevan Pecic

Dr. Stevan Pecic is a medicinal chemist working on the development of non-opioid therapeutics for treating chronic pain. He has published 37 publications (21 at CSUF), mentored 50 undergraduate and 12 graduate students and received more than 1.3 million dollars in funding from National Institutes of Health.

James Gong

Accounting Professor James Gong and his coauthors published a paper in the Review of Accounting Studies. They find that movie studio managers move up the release dates of movies with high expected revenues to boost quarterly earnings.

Guadalupe Díaz Lara

Dr. Díaz Lara has published six peer-reviewed journal articles and a book chapter, her research is highly relevant and directly applicable to educational practices. Beyond academia, Dr. Diaz Lara has written policy briefs and blogs for Spanish-speaking parents and presented her findings at parenting workshops and professional conferences, broadening the impact of her work.

Chen Wang

Chen Wang’s research and creativity push the boundaries of AI and interaction design by crafting intuitive, accessible, and user-centered experiences. Through education-focused projects, his work explores how AI can serve humanity, enhance information accessibility, and tackle the opportunities and challenges of designing seamless interfaces that integrate technology into everyday life.

Gayle Jansen Brisbane

Dr. Brisbane's research examines the intersections of media, politics, and religion. Her dissertation analyzed evangelical Christian women's support of Donald Trump and distrust of the media.

Alissa Ackerman

Dr. Alissa R. Ackerman studies sexual violence and restorative justice. Her recent work seeks to understand the justice and healing needs of people who experience sexual harm in faith communities.

Najood Azar

Neurodivergent nurses bring unique strengths that can enhance patients' care.

Matt Hoffmann

Dr. Hoffmann’s 2022 paper published in PLOS ONE provided groundbreaking insights into the link between youth sport participation and mental health and has been cited nearly 100 times in the literature.

Kristin Kurianski

Dr. Kristin Kurianski has published four papers in peer-reviewed journals since 2020 and secured funding as a PI or Co-PI on ten grants, including from the National Science Foundation and California Learning Labs. She also mentors students through undergraduate research projects and as the founding faculty advisor of CSUF's Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Student Chapter.