Regular Faculty
Martha Matsuoka, Chair
Professor, Urban and Environmental Policy; Executive Director, Urban & Environmental Policy Institute; Interim Faculty Director, Center for Community Based Learning
A.B., Occidental College; M.C.P., UC Berkeley Ph.D., UCLA
Martha Matsuoka ’83 focuses her teaching and research on issues such as metropolitan regionalism, sustainable community development, social movements, and environmental justice.
Claire Cahen
Assistant Professor, Urban & Environmental Policy
B.A., Pomona College; M.Phil, Ph.D., Graduate Center, CUNY, New York
Peter Dreier
E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics; Professor, Urban & Environmental Policy
B.A., Syracuse University M.A., Ph.D., University of Chicago
Peter Dreier has been involved in urban policy as a scholar, government official, reporter, and advocate for 30 years.
Karla Pena
Assistant Professor, Urban & Environmental Policy
B.A., California State University Northridge; M.S., University of Michigan; M.S., Ph.D., Cornell University
Seva Rodnyansky
Assistant Professor, Urban and Environmental Policy
B.A., Northwestern University; Ph.D., University of Southern California
Seva Rodnyansky’s research focuses on urban policy related to housing, transportation, residential mobility and neighborhood change. Read his Oxy Story profile.
Bhavna Shamasunder
Associate Professor and Chair, Urban and Environmental Policy
B.S./B.A., UC San Diego; M.ES., Yale University; Ph.D., UC Berkeley
Bhavna Shamasunder teaches and conducts research at the intersection of environmental health & justice with a focus on inequalities in chemical exposures faced by low-income communities and communities of color who live and work in urban and/or industrial environments.
Non-Tenure Track Faculty
Janis Breidenbach
Visiting Assistant Professor, Urban and Environmental Policy
B.A., M.A., UCLA; Ph.D., Prescott College
Rick Cole
Visiting Assistant Professor, Urban and Environmental Policy
A.B., Occidental College; M.S., Columbia University
Joshua Nicholas McGuffie
Visiting Instructor, Urban & Environmental Policy
B.A, University of California, Los Angeles; M.Div., Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary; M.A., Oregon State University; P.h.D., UCLA (in progress)
Steve Zimmer
Visiting Instructor, Urban and Environmental Policy
B.A. Goucher College; M.S. CSU Los Angeles