The Faculty in Residence & Scholar in Residence (non-faculty) program maximizes the interaction between faculty and students outside of the classroom by having the faculty member live in community with the residents. Student life is enhanced by the collaboration of residence life staff and Faculty in Residence to incorporate academic life into the campus housing experience.
Dr. Claudia Sandoval (Del Rey North)
Email: claudia.sandoval@lmu.edu
Claudia Sandoval is a professor in the Political Science department where she teaches courses on Race, Immigration, and Black/Latina/o relations. Professor Sandoval is a first-generation Mexican immigrant who grew up in Inglewood, California and graduated from Westchester High School. Professor Sandoval went on to receive a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 2006. During her time as an undergraduate, she participated in the McNair Research Scholars program and wrote a senior these on Black/Latina/o Relations in Inglewood. After graduating college, Sandoval left to the University of Chicago for her Ph.D. in political science. During her 9 year stay in the Midwest, Professor Sandoval taught Latina/o Politics at Northwestern University, University of Chicago, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before returning to her hometown of Inglewood to begin her position at LMU, she married her husband, Jose Garcia. They now have two beautiful children, Izel and Sebastián. The four are happy to be a part of the faculty-in-residence program and look forward to taking part in the students academic journey on campus.
Skinner Myers (Del Rey South)
Email: skinner.myers@lmu.edu
My name is Skinner Myers and I'm the faculty in residence for Del Rey South. I am a Clinical Assistant Professor of Production in the film school here at LMU. I teach both graduate and undergraduate production and post-production classes. I'm starting my 4th year here as an LMU Film Professor. I made my feature film debut as the writer and director of the documentary, Drinking From The Well, which screened in film festivals domestically and internationally. I wrote and directed four short films: Chimera, The Last Supper, Obscured, and Nigger, while studying film at USC School of Cinematic Arts. My sixth film, La Tierra Del Exodo, played in over 90 festivals worldwide and garnered a ton of awards and countless nominations including Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Short Film. My film, Frank Embree, took home the Grand Jury Award at Hollyshorts Film Festival and was in the Oscar competition for Best Short Live Action in 2018. My film, Nightmares by the Sea, premiered at the Art Film Festival in Cannes and my latest film, Things Of Beauty Burn, is currently in post-production.
When I'm not making films or teaching others how to make films I love running and getting better at my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu abilities.
Aurorae Khoo (Leavey 5/6)
Email: aurorae.khoo@lmu.edu
Aurorae Khoo is a playwright and television writer who has held commissions from regional theater South Coast Repertory and the Gerbode Foundation, to name a few. Her plays have been produced and developed around the country.
A former playwright in residence at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute, her comedic take on dramatic subjects has earned her numerous awards. Nearly a million tourists at Ellis Island have attended her play series commissioned by The Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty Foundation. Her work has won the Kennedy Center’s Edgar L. Stevens Award, have been produced and read at New Georges, East West Players, Playwrights Horizons through the National Young Playwrights Festival, South Coast Repertory, Los Angeles Theatre Center, Brown University, Rites & Reasons, New York University, the Provincetown Playhouse, the Brooklyn Public Library, the Tenement Museum in New York City, Theater Mu in Minneapolis, the Asian American Theater Company of San Francisco, and the Ford Theater Center in Los Angeles.
Khoo has written for the CBS show Unforgettable, Showtime's Nurse Jackie, the USA network's In Plain Sight, and Running Wilde on Fox. She’s also had produced episodes of the CBS shows JAG and Walker, Texas Ranger.
She has taught for San Diego State University, NYU Graduate Film, Singapore, USC, and Carnegie Mellon University. Ms. Khoo earned an MFA from New York University and a BA from Brown University. Additionally, she studied theater and language in Taiwan on an International Rotary Fellowship.
Roberto Cancio (McCarthy)
Email: Roberto.Cancio@lmu.edu
Roberto is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and the Head of the Veteran and Military Family Research Laboratory at LMU, a grant-funded lab that focuses on the intersection between the social and behavioral pathways underpinning resilience and susceptibility to adverse health conditions that disproportionately affect priority military populations and communities of color. At present, Roberto's work focuses on the context of family violence in interracial and monoracial military families and its relationship to substance use and mental health status as facilitators for intimate partner violence among military perpetrators. In addition, he is the Principle Investigator for the Tobacco Research Team, also at LMU, that focuses on understanding the social-geographic experiences for adolescents that use vaping products.
Roberto's research agenda is rooted in his life story as a Latino combat veteran, born and raised in the eastside of Los Angeles, CA and seeing families, especially his own, interact with the unique and complex hardships of military and post-military life in a socio-political environment that is traditionally hostile to people of color. There are serious implications for the unique health needs of families of color because of the context in which these families’ lives fluctuate and how this fluctuation contributes to changing health behaviors. My research priorities respond to social problems not only by addressing their existence but also by critiquing existing theoretical paradigms and research methodologies, including the process of defining, creating, and assessing evidence.
As a professor, his pedagogical commitment is Freirean. For Roberto, education functions as the 'practice of freedom', or the means by which students deal critically with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world. Roberto encourages the learning of the whole person by providing the conditions where students engage in critical thinking and discourse that promotes the formation of character and values, meaning and purpose. His courses direct students’ attention beyond the classroom, beyond the needs of the surrounding community, and ends with students realizing that social issues are not just singular problems, but existential concerns.
Dr. Chaya Crowder (Palm North)
Email: Chaya.Crowder@lmu.edu
Dr. Chaya Crowder’s research and teaching interests include political behavior, race and ethnicity politics, gender and politics as well as social media and American politics. She uses an intersectional approach in her research to explore the ways that attention to race, gender and sexuality have differential effects on political behavior.
Professor Crowder is passionate about teaching. She was a McGraw Teaching Fellow at Princeton University. Professor Crowder also taught at East Jersey State Prison through the Prison Teaching Initiative. She is the 2018 recipient of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists’ Bayard Rustin Best LGBTQ Student Paper Award. Professor Crowder was also a 2016 recipient of the Ford Pre-Doctoral Fellowship and a 2015-2016 APSA Minority Fellow.
Her book project explores how consciousness at the intersection of racial discrimination, gender discrimination, and sexuality-based discrimination influences support for policies that affect intersectionally marginalized groups. Professor Crowder develops a theory and measurement of what she calls “intersectional solidarity,” which is defined as awareness and distress over disadvantaged subgroups’ oppression.
Professor Crowder is deeply interested in the ways in which data can be used to affect change. She previously worked as a social justice research fellow at the Center for Popular Democracy.
Dr. Crowder graduated with a BA and an MA in Political Science from Columbia University where she was a John Kluge Scholar. She received her PhD from the Department of Politics at Princeton University where she also received certificates in African-American Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Her work has appeared in such journals as PS and Perspectives on Politics. She has also written articles that have appeared in The Washington Post and The Grio.
Dr. Christina Eubanks-Turner (Palm South)
Email: christina.eubanks-turner@lmu.edu
Dr. Eubanks-Turner is an Associate Professor of Mathematics and the Graduate Director of the Masters of Arts in Teaching Mathematics Program in the Department of Mathematics at LMU. Her primary research areas include algebra, mathematics education and broadening participation in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Her work in mathematics education focuses on developing the mathematical knowledge teachers need to teach high school. The work Professor Eubanks-Turner does in broadening participation looks at how to promote equity and participation of students from underrepresented groups in STEM.
Professor Eubanks-Turner received her B.S. in Mathematics from Xavier University of Louisiana, a small Catholic Liberal Arts college similar to LMU. After graduating from Xavier University of Louisiana, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in her hometown of New Orleans, LA, she left her home to attend graduate school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). She graduated from UNL with both her Masters and Doctorate in mathematics.
As a black female mathematician, Professor Eubanks-Turner is innately concerned with promoting equity in the STEM, especially in the mathematical sciences. She has secured around 3 million dollars in grant funding to support projects related to teacher training and mentoring students of color in STEM. She has video profile feature on SheHeroes.org, a website designed to celebrate contributions of women in STEM. She has also had articles written in Gizmodo and Girls’ Angle Bulletin about her accomplishments. One of Professor Eubanks-Turner’s articles on mentoring underrepresented students received the 2018 PRIMUS Editor’s Choice Top Paper award. She was also recognized by Mathematically Gifted & Black as a Black History Month 2019 Honoree.
David Clawson (Rains Hall)
Email: david.clawson@lmu.edu
David Clawson Having lived in Los Angeles for twenty-five years, Rains Hall represents David’s first time living on the westside. (So feel free to offer up recommendations!) Born in Newport News, VA, he’s also lived in Sharon,PA, Tucson, AZ, and Washington, DC.
An Assistant Professor of Screenwriting in the School of Film and Television, Professor Clawson teaches undergrad and graduate students narrative storytelling from Fundamentals to Thesis and Portfolio.
He holds B.A.s in English/Creative Writing and Dramatic Theory from the University of Arizona and an M.F.A. in Screenwriting from the University of Southern California. While at USC, David received the Jack Oakie Comedy Writing Award, a 20th Century Fox Fellowship, and had his sitcom pilot, Balancing Acts, produced. He has optioned to, or been hired to write by, Fox 2000, German companies Akhzente Productions and Capture Films, London based Riverchild Films (in accordance with the U.K. Film Council), and sold his feature spec screenplay Heirhead Apparent to New Line Cinema.
A member of the Writers Guild of America, as well as Film Independent, David was named one of Variety’s 10 Top Teachers in Entertainment Education in 2018. He was also named one of LMU’s Ascending Scholars in 2020, as well as receiving a 2020 SFTV College Fellowship.
Also a novelist, his first YA book, My Fairy Godmother Is A Drag Queen, was published by Sky Pony Press in 2017. He’s currently working on a modern YA adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, entitled Fitz Darcy Is A D!ck. As you can tell from his creative work, David hates a sense of humor. Also, he’s an avid traveler. End Scene.
Elias Wondimu (McCarthy Hall); Scholar in Residence
Email: elias.wondimu@lmu.edu
Elias Wondimu is an exiled Ethiopian journalist and the founder of Los Angeles-based TSEHAI Publishers, which was launched in 1998. Since being unexpectedly exiled from his country in 1994, he worked on general academic journals and books focused on Ethiopia and Africa. In 2007, Wondimu joined LMU’s Marymount Institute for Faith, Culture and the Arts, where he and the director, Professor Theresia de Vroom, established the Marymount Institute Press, which publishes books of academic and broad interest. This past August, TSEHAI Publishers launched the Harriet Tubman Press for African American Literature, a new imprint in collaboration with LMU’s Marymount Institute. The press will focus on African and African American fiction, nonfiction and academic titles.