Faculty

Joshua Gamson has been teaching at USF for more than 20 years, having previously taught at Yale University. His research and teaching focus on the sociology of culture, with an emphasis on contemporary Western commercial culture and mass media; social movements, especially on cultural aspects of contemporary movements; on participant-observation methodology and techniques, particularly as applied in urban settings; and on the history, theory, and sociology of sexuality. The author of four books...

Jennifer Murphy is an assistant professor in the international studies department at the University of San Francisco. Jenny’s facilitating, curriculum development, and research are informed by ongoing investigations in the interdisciplinary humanistic social sciences. Her geopolitical area of emphasis has been the territorial conflict between Western Sahara and Morocco (1975-present), particularly the political organizing and quest for self-determination of the indigenous Sahrawi people in the...

Chinyere Oparah is a Professor of Sociology and Leadership Studies and seasoned administrator. Oparah has had a distinguished academic leadership career, serving as provost, dean of faculty and vice president of academic affairs. Born in the UK to Nigerian and British parents, she pursued her bachelor’s and master’s degree in Modern and Medieval Language and Literature at the University of Cambridge before attending Warwick University to pursue her master’s and PhD in Race and Ethnic Studies...

Kimberly Richman received a BA at Pitzer College and an MA and a PhD in the Department of Criminology, Law, and Society at UC Irvine, where she also completed a graduate emphasis in feminist studies. She currently teaches Criminology; Sociology of Law; Deviance and Social Control; Senior Thesis Workshop; Capstone in Sociology; and Law School 101. She also collaborates with the USF School of Law's Racial Justice Clinic.

Professor Richman's primary areas of research interest are law and society...

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...

Sadia Saeed is a historical sociologist with substantive interests in religion and politics, international human rights, and global inequalities. Her first book Politics of Desecularization: Law and the Minority Question in Pakistan (Cambridge University Press, 2017) examines the contentious relationship between Islam, nationalism, and rights of religious minorities in colonial India and Pakistan. It received the 2016-2017 Book Prize from the American Institute of Pakistan Studies (AIPS). Her...

Cecília Santos received her PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master in Law from the University of São Paulo. She joined the University of San Francisco in 2001, and since 2006 she is also a research member of the Center for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra in Portugal. She teaches courses on gender and development, globalization, sociology of law, and Brazilian culture and society.

Her research focuses on legal mobilization within and across...

Dr. Stephanie Sears has been a member of the USF faculty since 2002. She is a faculty member in the Department of Sociology and African American Studies and Critical Diversity Studies programs. Before her current role as Associate Dean of Social Sciences, Dr. Sears served as the College of Arts and Science faculty director of JEDI, the director of the African American Studies Program, Chair of Sociology, Chair of the Arts Council, Co-chair of College Council, Co-Director of the Marshall-Riley...

Hwaji Shin joined the Sociology Department at the University of San Francisco as a full-time Assistant Professor in 2007. She completed her PhD in Sociology at SUNY Stony Brook, where she received the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching. Between 2008 and 2010, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor and Japan Fund fellow at Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies at Stanford University where she researched and lectured on race and ethnic relations in modern Japan.

Her...

Jennifer Turpin joined USF's faculty in 1991 after receiving a doctorate in sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. She has received USF's Distinguished Teaching Award and the College Service Award, as well as an honorary doctorate from USF in 2015. She founded USF's Women's Studies program and served as chair of the sociology department before spending 17 years in the university administration, as provost (2010-2015); dean (2003-2010); and associate dean (1997-2003).

Her research...

Mike Webber is a Professor in the Department of Sociology. He received his MA and PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and also received an MSc(Econ) in Industrial Relations from Cardiff University and a BSc(Econ) in Politics and History from Aberystwyth University. He is a political sociologist whose research focuses on the power structure of the United States, particularly the relationship between business and politics during the New Deal era. He teaches courses in...

Dr. Kjerstin Gruys is a sociologist, feminist scholar, body justice activist, and author of Mirror, Mirror, OFF the Wall: How I Learned to Love My Body By Not Looking at It for a Year (Avery, 2013). Kjerstin is frequently quoted by USA Today, TIME, and New York Times, among others, as an expert on gender inequality and contemporary women’s issues. Her academic research broadly explores the relationship between physical appearance and social inequality, with a particular focus on gender as it...

Narine Kerelian received her PhD in social sciences from the University of Hong Kong in 2018. Her research interests lie at the intersection of (im)migration and social policy, with particular interest in diversity and social cohesion.

Beth has conducted extensive ethnographic research on the politics of gender and sexuality in India, France and Senegal. Her current research focuses on gender-bending Muslim female soccer players in urban Senegal. She is interested in how these women wield their stigma to challenge heteronormative gender expectations from within an Islamic ethos. 

Drawing on concepts from the sociology of culture (embodiment, subculture and emotions), the sociology of sport as well contemporary theories of...

Konrad Edward Ian Posch studies comparative political economy and regulatory politics with a particular focus on the politics of technology and regulation & governance (REGGOV). His dissertation examined the variety of ways regulators, innovators, and entrepreneurs co-create disruptive technological innovation in advanced industrial democracies. With a background in physics and mathematics, he also studies the deeper insights we can gain from qualitative and multi-method research and the...

Alexandria is a part-time faculty member in the Sociology Department at The University of San Francisco. She has taught Introduction to Sociology, Sex & Sexualities, Social Problems, The Sociology of Health, and Career Exploration at USF. When she is not teaching, she is working on research that explores clothing and identity. She is the Founder and Owner of Herderin Studio located in San Rafael, California.