Faculty

Professor Contact Information	Professor Bio
Nielan Barnes, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Sociology Ph.D. (2005) in Sociology, University of California, San Diego	Dr. Barnes current research examines the role of civil society in shaping Immigration and Migration Health Policy and Programs in North America.
Norma Chinchilla, Ph.D. Professor of Sociology & Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Ph.D. (1973) in Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison	Dr. Chinchilla’s research focuses on social change, social stratification, women’s movements and feminism in Latin America. She has served as an expert witness for deportation and asylum hearings.
Kenneth R. Curtis, Ph.D. Professor of History and Liberal Studies Ph.D. (1989) in History, University of Wisconsin-Madison.	Dr. Curtis’s research and teaching fields are in Modern African and Comparative World History. Apart from a dual appointment in the colleges of Liberal Arts and Education, Professor Curtis had broad experience across the CSULB campus, including service as the Chair of the International Education Committee and as senior international officer for Academic Affairs.
Gary Hytrek, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Sociology Ph.D. (1996) in Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles	Dr. Hyrtek’s has conducted research and taught in (and on) migration in Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Cambodia, the U.S. South, and Long Beach. His teaching and research areas include globalization, migration, community development, human rights, and social justice.
Demetra Kasimis, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Political Science
Yuping Mao, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Communication Studies	Yuping Mao, Assistant Professor in Communication Studies, Ph. D. (2010), Communication Studies, Ohio University. Dr. Mao was raised in China, and have studied, worked, and taught in Canada, the Netherlands, and the U.S. Dr. Mao teaches and does research on intercultural communication. She has published on topics such as immigrants’ use of media for health communication and identity management, as well as health disparity and health communication differences among different cultural/immigrant groups in comparison with the dominant group in host countries.
Heather Rae-Espinoza, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Human Development Ph.D. (2006) in Anthropology, University of California, San Diego	Dr. Rae-Espinoza conducted three years of fieldwork in Ecuador along with exploratory research in Mexico and with the Immigration Museum for New Americans on how children psychologically adapted and socially adjusted to parental emigration.
Maythee Rojas, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Ph.D. (2001) in English, Arizona State University	Dr. Rojas’s teaching includes coursework examining the migratory experiences of women and children through literature. In addition, the National Association of Ethnic Studies, where I serve as a Board member, engages issues of migration as they relate to identity formation and the field of ethnic studies within a global context.
Kristine Zentgraf, Ph.D. Professor of Sociology Ph.D. (1998) in Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles	A recipient of the university’s 2004-2005 distinguished Faculty Teaching Award, Dr. Zentgraf teaches courses on race, class and gender inequality, social stratification, sociological theory and immigration. Currently, she is working on a project that focuses on immigrant family separation, in particular the impact of family separation and reunification on immigrant children and their adaptation to U.S. society. She is co-author of American Transformed: Globalization, Inequality and Power (with Gary Hytrek).