Staff
Matthew Cahn, Ph.D.
Director
Matthew Cahn is Director of the Center for Southern California Studies and Professor of Public Policy at California State University, Northridge. His research interests include environmental management, public policy, and California Studies. He is currently working on Linking Science to Decision Making in Environmental Policy: Bridging the Disciplinary Gap (MIT, forthcoming). This project examines the tensions between science and policy, using the question of marine protected areas in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) as a case study. Matt served as Chair of the Marine Reserve Science Advisory Panel working with the CINMS process, and is Chair of the Sanctuary Advisory Council. The CINMS resides within NOAA, in the U.S. Department of Commerce. His most recent books include Environmental Regulation Through Strategic Planning (with Steve Cohen and Sheldon Kamnieniecki -- MIT Forthcoming), Rethinking California: Politics and Policy in the Golden State (with Eric Schockman and David Shafie -- Prentice Hall 2001), and California: An Owners Manual (also with Eric Schockman – Prentice Hall 1997).
Tom Hogen-Esch, Ph.D.
Director of Policy Studies and Community Outreach
Tom Hogen-Esch is Director of Policy Studies and Community Outreach of the Center for Southern California Studies and Assistant Professor of Political Science. He has recently published articles in Urban Affairs Review, California Politics and Policy, and California Policy Issues Annual. He is working with Terry Christensen on the second edition of "Local Politics: Governing at the Grassroots (2006). And, he is currently working on a study of the impact of term limits in the California State Assembly. His teaching interests include U.S. and California Government, Public Policy, and Urban Politics. From 1997-1999, he held a staff position for the Los Angeles Elected Charter Reform Commission. He received a Ph.D in Political Science from the University of Southern California in 2002.
Tina Kotin-Savitch
Administrative Coordinator
Tina Kotin-Savitch is Administrative Coordinator of the Center for Southern California Studies and SOLAR Coordinator for the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. She is also the coordinator for the 19th Annual Envisioning California Conference being held this September 19th.