Regular Faculty
Damian Stocking, Chair
Professor, Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture Department
B.A., UC Berkeley; M.A., Ph.D., UCLA
A recipient of the Linda and Tod White Teaching Prize, Damian Stocking teaches courses such as European Literary Tradition and Too Soon? A Comedic Apology.
Stephen Klemm
Assistant Professor, Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture
B.A., University of Iowa; M.A., University of Chicago; M.A., Ph.D., Cornell University
Stephen Klemm specializes in German literature and philosophy from the 18th-20th century with particular interest in German Romanticism, Existentialism, and Critical Theory. His language and literature courses examine how language, literature, and philosophy interact and emerge from within concrete social and historical settings.
Jacob Mackey
Associate Professor, Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture
B.A., University of Texas at Austin; M.St., Christ Church, Oxford; Ph.D., Princeton University
Jacob L. Mackey specializes in Greek and Latin languages and literature, ancient religions, ancient childhood, and approaches to ancient cultures that are informed by the cognitive sciences.
Non-Tenure Track Faculty
Alexander Gardner
Visiting Assistant Professor, Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture
B.A., University of California, Irvine; M.A., Ph.D., Yale University
Alex Gardner specializes in 19 th and 20 th century German literature. He is particularly interested in aesthetic responses to modernity, experimental poetry, fairy tales, collectors, and quotation as a literary device. He currently teaches courses on Grimms’ Fairy Tales and the history of German film at Occidental. His language classes emphasize interactive exercises, performance, and critical engagement with German literature. When he is not teaching, he writes and performs music.
Sydney K. Mitsunaga-Whitten
Resident Instructor, Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture
A.B., Occidental College; M.A., Yale University
Sydney Mitsunaga-Whitten specializes in modern Irish literature, with a particular focus on the works of James Joyce and Oscar Wilde. She also teaches courses in Greek and Latin language and…
Julia Sushytska
Resident Assistant Professor, Comparative Studies in Literature and Cultures/Russian
B.A., John Carroll University; M.A., Ph.D., Stony Brook University
Julia Sushytska specializes in 20th century European and Eastern European philosophy, and teaches courses that bring into focus Eastern Europe as the in-between of the Western European and…
Madeline Thayer
Visiting Assistant Professor, Comparative Studies in Literature & Culture
B.A., Wellesley College; M.A., Ph.D., University of Southern California
Affiliated Faculty
Lisa Sousa
Norman Bridge Professor, History
B.A., M.A., Ph.D., UCLA
Sousa specializes in the histories of colonial Latin America, indigenous peoples and languages of Mexico, and women, gender and sexuality.
Meimei Zhang
Assistant Professor, Asian Studies
B.A., Beijing Foreign Studies University; M.A., Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles