Advisory Committee

Professor Alexander Day

Alexander F. Day

Associate Professor, History & Asian Studies
B.A. Colby College; M.A., Ph.D. UC Santa Cruz
Alexander Day studies the intellectual, social, and cultural history of peasants, food, and agrarian change in China. He teaches Chinese, East Asian, and world history. Read his Oxy Story profile.
Professor John Lang

John T. Lang

Associate Professor, Sociology
B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Rutgers University
John Lang is deeply interested in food as a site for sociological exploration.
Headshot of Carmel Levitan

Carmel Levitan

Professor, Cognitive Science
B.A., Stanford University; Ph.D., UC Berkeley
Carmel Levitan studies multisensory interactions, researching how the different senses integrate information.

Affiliated Faculty

SC

Sharon Cech

Visiting Instructor, Urban & Environmental Policy
B.A., Bard College; M.A., UCLA
Sharon Cech (she/her) is a Program Director at the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College (UEPI). With over a decade of experience working to advance farm to school, farmers…
Professor Amy Holmes Tagchungdarpa

Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa

Associate Professor, Religious Studies & Asian Studies
B.A., Victoria University of Wellington; Ph.D., Australian National University
Areas of specialization: Buddhism in Tibet, the East and South Asian Himalayas, and beyond.
Professor Andrew Jalil

Andrew Jalil

Associate Professor, Economics
A.B.; Sc.B. Brown University; Ph.D. UC Berkeley
Andrew Jalil is an economist, whose research is in two distinct areas: (1) macroeconomic history (financial crises, monetary and fiscal policy, the Great Depression) and (2) food policy (health, sustainability).
Martha Matsuoka

Martha Matsuoka

Professor, Urban and Environmental Policy; Executive Director, Urban & Environmental Policy Institute
A.B., Occidental College; M.C.P., UC Berkeley Ph.D., UCLA
Martha Matsuoka ’83 focuses her teaching and research on community-based organizing and social movements for environmental justice, particularly in planning and policy. 
Professor Clair Morrissey

Clair Morrissey

Professor, Philosophy
B.A., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; M.A., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Clair Morrissey is a moral philosopher who specializes in practical ethics and political philosophy.
RR

Rosa Romero

Visiting Instructor, Urban & Environmental Policy
B.A., UCLA; MEd., UH Manoa
Rosa Romero is a Program Director at the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI) at Occidental College. Rosa specializes in Farm to Preschool, Garden and Health curriculum development and…
Headshot of Robert Eli Sanchez, Jr.

Robert Eli Sanchez, Jr.

Associate Professor, Philosophy
B.A., Pitzer College; M.A., P.h.D., U.C. Riverside
Robert Sanchez specializes in Mexican/Latinx/Latin American philosophy, as well as existentialism, and he has interests in the philosophy of race, the philosophy of food, and the history of philosophy. He co-hosts a blog on Mexican philosophy. 

Derek Shearer

Stuart Chevalier Professor, Diplomacy and World Affairs
BA, Yale University; PhD, The Union Graduate School
Ambassador Shearer serves as Director of the McKinnon Center for Global Affairs, handling the college's international relations and directing the expansion of its international affairs programs.
Contact Food Studies
Swan Hall 220