Faculty & Staff

Dr. Alan D. Buckley holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University, a Master of Arts in International Relations from The George Washington University, and a Bachelor's in Political Science from the University of Oklahoma. His research interests include  International Relations Theory and International Political Economy. Before joining the faculty, Dr. Buckley served as a Research Associate for The Conference Board's International Political and Social Analysis Program, International Business Analyst for Getty Oil Company, and Vice President, Security Pacific Bank. He resides in Ventura County with his family. Dr. Budckley can be contacted by telephone at  (818) 677-3488 or by email at alan.buckley@csun.edu

Lawrence Becker received his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2001.  His teaching and research interests include American Government, American Political Institutions, Public Policy, and Public Administration. He is the author of Doing the Right Thing: Collective Action and Procedural Choice in the New Legislative Process.  Doing the Right Thing was published by The Ohio State University Press in 2005 and it examines the ways in which procedural strategies are used to overcome collective action problems in the U.S. Congress. Currently, Dr. Becker is working with Dr. Cahn on a book manuscript that explores the tension between science and democracy by examining the negotiated rulemaking process used to establish Marine Protected Areas.  Dr. Becker can be
contacted by email at lawrence.becker@csun.edu and his webpage is www.csun.edu/~labecker

Matthew A. Cahn received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in 1991. His research interests include environmental policy and resource management, public policy, and California policy and politics. Dr. Cahn has been involved in several applied policy areas, ranging from transportation issues in metropolitan Los Angeles to the question of marine protected areas in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. He is the author or co-author of several books, including Strategic Planning in Environmental Regulation: A Policy Approach that Works, Environmental Deceptions, Thinking about the Environment, and Rethinking California: Politics and Policy in the Golden State. Over the years, Dr. Cahn has taught at San Francisco State, San Jose State, the University of Southern California, and UC Santa Barbara. Dr. Cahn can be contacted by email at cahn@csun.edu and his web page is www.csun.edu/~cahn

Alexandra Cole is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Political Science and Sociology. She teaches Research Methods in each Department, as well as courses in West European Politics in the Political Science Department. Other teaching interests include Media and Politics, Political Parties, Political Behavior, and Empirical Democratic Theory. Her research efforts have focused on far right political parties in Western Europe, as well as on studies of the voting behavior of Latinos. Professor Cole serves as the Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Political Science. She may be reached via email at alexandra.cole@csun.edu

Dr. Nicholas Dungey is an Assistant Professor of Political Philosophy. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1998. He specializes in Modern and Contemporary political theory, with an emphasis in postmodern thought. Attempting to move beyond the modern conceptions of subjectivity, language, power, and the politics that express them, his research is mapping the territory of a postmodern politics. His "(Re)Turning Derrida to Heidegger: Being-with-others as Primordial Politics," appeared in Polity. He is currently at work on a book on Heidegger, Derrida, and postmodern politics. He can be reached at nicholas.dungey@csun.edu.

Dr. María Rosa García-Acevedo received her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona, her M.A. from the University of New Mexico, and her B.A. from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She has been a research fellow in the United States and Mexico at the Center for U.S. Mexican Studies, University of California San Diego; the School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine; the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez and the Colegio de la Frontera Norte. Her main areas of research and teaching are Comparative Politics, Latin American and Mexican Politics, and Public Policy. She has published research on U.S.-Mexico diplomatic relations, transboundary environmental issues in the U.S. Mexico border, and the Mexican diaspora in the United States. Dr. García-Acevedo can be contacted by phone at (818) 677-6336 or by email at maria.garcia-acevedo@csun.edu

Keiko Hirata is an Assistant Professor of Political Science. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Hawai'i and has previously taught or conducted research at Hanoi National University in Vietnam, Tsukuba University in Japan, and the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Hirata's research focuses on state-society relations in East Asia. She is the author of Civil Society in Japan: The Growing Role of NGOs in Tokyo's Aid and Development Policy (Palgrave, 2002). Most recently, she won an award from Oxford University Press and the University of Tokyo for best paper published in 2004 in Social Science Japan Journal. Dr. Hirata can be contacted via e-mail at keiko.hirata@csun.edu and further information about her work is available on her website at http://www.csun.edu/~kh246690.

Tom Hogen-Esch received his Ph. D. in political science from the University of Southern California in 2002. His teaching interests include U.S. and California Government, Public Policy and Administration, Race and Ethnic Politics, and Urban Politics. His dissertation, "Recapturing Suburbia: Urban Secession and the Politics of Growth in Los Angeles, Boston, and Seattle" is currently under review by several university presses. Professor Hogen-Esch is an expert on Los Angeles politics, and is an occasional contributor to the op-ed pages of the Los Angeles Times. From 1997-1999, he held a staff position for the Los Angeles Elected Charter Reform Commission. He has made numerous presentations to community groups throughout the city on the issue of secession movements in Los Angeles. His article on the topic appeared in the July 2001 issue of Urban Affairs Review. In his free time Professor Hogen-Esch enjoys travel, the outdoors, and music. He can be reached by phone at (818) 677-3484 or by e-mail at tom.hogen-esch@csun.edu.

Dr. Mehran Kamrava is Professor of Political Science. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 1989. His specialties include political development, comparative politics, and Middle Eastern Studies. In addition to a number of journal articles, he is the author of Revolution in Iran: The Roots of Turmoil (1990), The Political History of Modern Iran: From Tribalism to Theocracy (1992), Revolutionary Politics (1992), Politics and Society in the Third World (1993), Understanding Comparative Politics: A Framework for Analysis (1996), Democracy in the Balance: Culture and Society in the Middle East (1998), Cultural Politics in the Third World (1999),  Politics and Society in the Developing World, 2^nd ed. (2000), and The Modern Middle East: A Political History since the First World War (2005). He has also edited The New Voices of Islam: Rethinking Politics and Modernity (2006).  He can be contacted by telephone at (818) 677-7235 or by email at mehran.kamrava@csun.edu.

Peter Kappas received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1997. His dissertation explored the politics, policy, and practice of self-regulation in the chemical industry. His principal interests are related to the politics of regulation. More specifically, he is interested in alternative regulatory techniques, political institutions and regulatory policy, interest groups and regulatory politics, and regulatory decisionmaking and reform. He considers teaching his first priority, and in his free time he likes to play judo, hike, and spend time with his kids.

Dr. Christopher A. Leu received his Ph.D. from University of California, Los Angeles in 1973. His areas of professional research interest and teaching have been in the broad areas of international political economy with a special emphasis on comparative policy-making and analysis in the third world, and in Africa, specifically. His recent research focuses on Economic Human Rights: Hunger in America and Africa. In addition to a number of papers and journal articles at national and international conferences, he is the author of "Colonial Education and African Resistance in Namibia" in Agrippah T. Mugomba and Mouga Nyaggah (eds), The Political Economy of Colonial Education in the Southern Africa. His other area of expertise is in the field of Public Administration and he is a Co-Director of the Masters of Public Administration ( M.P.A.) program, a university-wide interdisciplinary graduate professional degree, sponsored by the Department of Political Science and administered in the College of Extended Learning. Professor Leu can be contacted by telephone at (818) 677-3909 or by email at christopher.leu@csun.edu

Dr. Lawrence Littwin received his Ph.D. from New York University in 1967. His area of expertise lie in Latin American Politics, the Church in Latin America, American Political Institutions, and International Relations. Littwin is the author of the following texts and papers: Latin America: Catholicism and Class Conflict, Dickerson Publishing Co, 1974; "The Cuban Missile Crisis", lead case study in William B. Andrews, ed., The Politics of International Crises, 1970; "Religion and Revolution? A Brief for the Theology of Liberation", The Socialist Register, 1989; "Base Ecclesial Communities and Folk Religion", paper, 1989. Professor Littwin served as the Associate Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and is currently the coordinator of CSUN's Project Mexico, organizing CSUN's participation in the annual international conference on the border that takes place in La Paz, Mexico and is jointly sponsored by CSUN and The Autonomous University Of Baja California Sur. He is also working with a joint American/Mexican research team on immigration issues. Dr. Lawrence Littwin can be contacted by telephone at (818) 677-7233 or by email at llittwin@earthlink.net

Associate Professor Henry Lopez received his M.A. degree from the Department of Political Science at California State University Northridge in 1975. His areas of expertise lie in Theory, Comparative Government, and International Relations. Dr. Lopez has earned a Community College and ESL Teaching Credential. Professor Henry Lopez can be contacted by telephone at (818) 677-4080 or by email at henry.lopez@csun.edu

Dr. Virginia Lussier received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 1973. She has an M.B.A. from Rutgers University; an M.A. in Political Science from Maryland; and M.A. in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania. She was a Fulbright Scholar in the Faculty of Law at the Universidad de San Simon in Cochabamba, Bolivia. She has held administrative and academic positions at various universities including CSUN, Saint Louis University, Rutgers University (New Brunswick), University of Delaware, and the University of Maryland. She is the co-editor of two books and author of numerous journal articles and papers on topics related to international political conflict, employment issues, collective bargaining, literacy, and civil aviation. Her areas of specialization in political science are comparative politics, international relations and Latin American area studies. Dr. Lussier serves as Coordinator of the Political Science Assessment Program. Dr. Lussier can be contacted by telephone at (818) 677-7237 or by email at ginny.lussier@csun.edu.

Professor James A. Mitchell received his Ph.D. from Princeton University and has taught at CSUN since 1990. His subfields of concentration are International Political Economy, International Relations Theory, International Organization, United States Foreign Policy, and the International Relations of Selected Areas (Africa, Eastern and Central Europe). His most recent significant professional activity was in serving as J. William Fulbright Professor at the University of Bucharest, Romania, in 1997. He currently serves as the Coordinator for the African Studies Program in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. He has also been named to Who's Who in America for the year 2000. Dr. Mitchell can be reached by telephone at 818/677-3488 or by email at james.mitchell@csun.edu.

Dr. Phillip Present received his Ph. D. from the University of Southern California. His area of interest is American politics with a particular focus on the ethical dimensions in public policies and programs. He has published in the fields of American politics and public administration. Dr. Present conducts his classes in a lecture-discussion format. He asks questions in class about the assigned readings and lecture material. He also encourages students to read as widely as possible including conflicting viewpoints. Dr. Present can be contacted by telephone at (818) 677-4773 or by email at phillip.e.present@csun.edu

Dr. Parkes Riley received his Ph D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1974. His specialties are Comparative Politics, American Politics, Political Theory, and International Politics; he has regional interest in South Asia and Europe. One of his recent papers was "Parties and Elections in India in the 1990's "(1996); he is completing a manuscript entitled Why Democracies Survive: A Realist Logic. His current research interests include the concept of political realism and the theory of oligarchy. Dr. Parkes Riley can be contacted by telephone at (818) 677-3486 or by email at hcpol001@csun.edu

Dr. David Ringsmuth received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1970. His area of expertise lie in Urban Government, Public Administration, and American Government. Ringsmuth is the author of the following texts: Los Angeles Region's Public Policy Agenda: Reform or Continuation?; "Committee on Metro-Urban Research", Western Political Science Association, April 1976; "The Political Process in Los Angeles: The Locus of Responsibility, Authority and Capacity, Committee on Metro-Urban Research", Western Political Science Association, April 1977; "Political Parties and the Mayor of New York," American Political Quarterly. Dr. David Ringsmuth can be contacted by telephone at (818) 677-3483 or by email at david.ringsmuth@csun.edu

Dr. Ram M. Roy received his Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University, in 1969. His area of interest include: International Relations: U.S. Foreign Policy; Comparative Foreign Policies; India U.S. and Asia relations. Dr. Roy's publications include: Indian Democracy in Crisis; India and The World in Post Cold War Era. He has also written papers such as: "Non-alignment: the cultural Background" and "The Sino-Soviet Disputes in Southeast Asia." He is a TV Commentator, and a Public Speaker. Dr. Roy can be contacted by telephone at (818) 677-3485 or by mail at ram.roy@csun.edu

Martin Saiz (Ph.D. University of Colorado at Boulder, 1992) has written extensively on issues of urban politics, local political parties, economic development, and the effects of voting turnout on public policy. He was a community activist in Denver, Colorado where he served two terms as a planning commissioner. His book, Local Parties in Political and Organizational Perspective, (Westview) analyzes relations between political party systems and local communities in the United States, Canada. Great Britain, Italy Germany and other nations. His articles have been published in the Journal of Politics, Urban Affairs Review, Political Research Quarterly, Economic Development Quarterly, and Policy Studies Journal as well as other books and journals. Dr. Saiz may be reached at (818) 677-7236, or via email at martin.saiz@csun.edu. His web page is http://www.csun.edu/~mrs7578/.

Christopher Shortell is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at California State University, Northridge and writes on constitutional law, the interaction between law and society, and federalism.  He has published a chapter on executive immunity in The Presidency and the Law: The Clinton Legacy (University Press of Kansas 2002) with Evan Gerstmann and an article on the institutional stability of the judiciary in Judicature with Charles Anthony Smith.  He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego in 2004.

DSylvia Snowiss received a Ph.D. in Political Science, with a specialization in Constitutional Law, from the University of Chicago in 1968.  Her interests include Constitutional Law and Constitutional Theory, Judicial Process, and American Political Thought.  Her major publications are "The Legacy of Justice Black," (1973 Supreme Court Review); Judicial Review and the Law of the Constitution (Yale University Press 1990); "Text and Principle in John Marshall's Constitutional Law: The Cases of Marbury and McCulloch," (John Marshall Law Review 2000); and "The Marbury of 1803 and the Modern Marbury," (Constitutional Commentary 2003).    Professor Snowiss can be contacted at (818) 677-3476 or by email at sylvia.snowiss@csun.edu.

Dr. William Wallis received his Ph D. from the University of Southern California in 1975. His specialties are Comparative Politics, American Government, Political Theory, Political Science Methods, Research Methods in Public Administration, and Political Economy. Papers include; "A Model of Bureaucratic Efficiency" (1982); "Max Webber and the New Logic" (1974). Dr. William Wallis can be contacted by telephone at (818) 677-3483 or by email at william.wallis@csun.edu