Regular Faculty
Bhavna Shamasunder, Chair
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.
Claire Cahen
Assistant Professor, Urban & Environmental Policy
B.A., Pomona College; M.Phil, Ph.D., Graduate Center, CUNY, New York
Claire Cahen is an urbanist, researcher and educator who studies municipal austerity and public sector union renewal.
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.
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.
Karla Peña
Assistant Professor, Urban & Environmental Policy
B.A., California State University Northridge; M.S., University of Michigan; M.S., Ph.D., Cornell University
Karla Peña's teaching and research is centered on social movements and the political ecology of natural resource extraction and environmental change, from a local and global perspective.
James Sadd
Professor, Environmental Science
B.S., University of Southern California; M.S., University of Texas; Ph.D., University of South Carolina
Dr. Sadd teaches courses in Geographic Information Systems in which students evaluate many types of information using spatial analysis and statistical tools.
Non-Tenure Track Faculty
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…
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; Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles (in progress)
Rosa Romero
Visiting Instructor, Urban & Environmental Policy
B.A., University of California, Los Angeles; M.Ed., University of Hawaii, 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…