Faculty

Genevieve Leung is the academic director of the Asian Pacific Studies MA program and director of the Asian Pacific American Studies minor. She has a BA in linguistics from UC Berkeley and dual MA degrees in linguistics (TESOL) and education (Language and Literacy) from UC Davis. She received her PhD in Educational Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania. She has taught high school English in Japan, as well as English writing, effective communication, and reading and vocabulary courses at...

Wei Yang Menkus received her PhD in East Asian Languages and Literature from Yale University. She teaches and researches broadly in Chinese cinema in a global context, with special interests in film genre, spatiality, transnational practice, and the intersection between China and Hollywood. She is currently completing a book manuscript on film space in contemporary Chinese cinema.

Her teaching interests include Chinese cinemas, East Asian genre films, gender and visual culture, city...

Dr. Zifei “Fay” Chen is an associate professor in the Communication Studies Department and oversees the Public Relations Minor program. Specialized in public relations and strategic communication, Dr. Chen’s research foci include corporate social responsibility and advocacy, startup and entrepreneurial communication, digital communication, and prosocial communication.

Dr. Chen has produced over 35 refereed journal articles, book chapters, and books. Her work has been published in leading...

Dr. Violet Cheung (ORCiD 0000-0003-2706-025X) is a co-chair and a professor in the department of psychology at the University of San Francisco. Her research on mass emotions started after 9/11 while she was completing her doctorate degree at UC Berkeley. She examined angry responses to the terrorist attack and how the public sentiment precipitated the U.S. to go to war. She now focuses on anxious and fearful responses in the new contexts of cyber insecurity, the migrant crisis, and the COVID...

Kevin M. Chun, PhD, is professor of psychology and co-founding faculty member of USF’s Asian American Studies and Critical Diversity Studies programs. Professor Chun uses community-based research methods to study acculturation effects on Asian American immigrant health and psychosocial adjustment. His research program aims to improve acculturation theory and measures, and develop health interventions that reduce immigrant families’ acculturation stress.

Prof. Chun was co-principal...

Brian Komei Dempster is a professor of rhetoric and language and a faculty member in Asian Pacific American Studies at the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also serves as Director of Administration for the Master of Arts in Asia Pacific Studies. He has been at USF since 2001 and received the Distinguished Teaching Award (along with Ronald Sundstrom) in 2010 and the Dean's Scholar Award for 2022-2023.

At the university, he has taught various courses in the Rhetoric and Language...

Eileen Fung is the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of San Francisco. Provost Eileen has dedicated over 26 years to USF, including significant time in academic leadership. She is responsible for the university’s five schools, libraries, academic affairs, enrollment management, online programs, international relations, and diversity and community outreach for the university’s 10,000 students, 1,000 faculty, and 1,000 staff.

Provost Fung was awarded the James...

Evelyn Y. Ho is a professor of communication studies, Asian Pacific American studies, and critical diversity studies. 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 meanings of acupuncture and Chinese medicine in underserved communities. She has led...

David Kim is a professor of philosophy and an affiliate of the programs in Asian Studies, Asian American Studies, and Critical Diversity Studies. He has served in a variety of professional organizations, including chairing the American Philosophical Association Committee on Asian and Asian American Philosophers and Philosophies and co-founding the North American Korean Philosophy Association. 

David's work explores how our understanding of U.S. democracy is deepened through consideration of...

Professor Sangman Kim is broadly interested in the interaction between hosts and microbes. His current research focuses on a family of receptors called toll-like receptors (TLRs) that are used by host immune systems to distinguish between different classes of microbes, in order to drive a tailored immune response. He is utilizing a variety of molecular methods to dissect signaling downstream of TLR activation, and investigating the impact of commonly-occurring TLR polymorphisms on microbial...

Mark Miller is associate professor of systematic (philosophical) theology.  His mother came from the Philippines, his father from Maine, and they met in the middle as students at USF in the 1960s.  His specialty is human development and redemption, particularly our ongoing, communal conversion to greater knowledge, love, and service of God and all things.  His PhD dissertation is entitled, "Why the Passion?: Bernard Lonergan on the Cross as Communication." His undergraduate degree concentrated...

Evelyn I. Rodriguez is a second-generation Pinay, who was born in Honolulu, raised in San Diego, and is now an Associate Professor for the University of San Francisco's Department of Sociology. She also is a faculty member in Critical Diversity Studies, Asian American Studies, and the Maria Elena Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from UC San Diego as a Sociology major/Ethnic Studies minor; and received her MA and PhD from UC Berkeley's...

Joyce P. Yang, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist who earned her doctoral degree as a clinical scientist from the University of Washington. She received her postdoctoral research training in the Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Illness Research and Treatment at Stanford University in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the National Center for PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) at VA Palo Alto Health Care System. She completed her predoctoral clinical internship...

James Zarsadiaz is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program. He specializes in United States history, particularly urban and suburban history and Asian American history. James currently sits on the board of the Association for Asian American Studies. Prof. Zarsadiaz was a fellow at both the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and Asian Pacific American Center. Prior to entering academia, James worked in the U.S. House of...

Fr. Dennis Recio, SJ is a member of the Jesuit community at USF. He teaches in the St. Ignatius Institute (Great Books) program and the English Department. He has taught courses in Composition and Rhetoric, Great Books, Horror Films, Manners and Etiquette, the Philosophy of Friendship, and Jane Austen. He has previously worked as a hospital chaplain, a high school teacher at St. Ignatius College Preparatory, a retreat director, and a case manager for a homeless shelter. He enjoys a good slasher...