Sarah Chavez (History)
Frankie Bauer is an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and a recent PhD graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the American Studies department. His research explores Cherokee intertribal diplomacy and nation-building in the nineteenth-century West. In addition, Bauer is part of the Choctaw Language and History Workshop, an interdisciplinary and interinstitutional group of historians and linguists collaborating to translate and analyze nineteenth-century court documents from the Choctaw (Chahta) Nation. Their research is featured in a forthcoming, solicited edition of the peer-reviewed academic journal Native South. Frankie’s interests include learning Native languages, and he is learning Choctaw (Chahta anumpa) and Cherokee (ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ). Additionally, Frankie is fascinated with the history and evolution of punk rock music.
Hossein Karimi (Political Science)
Dr. John Burnett, born and raised in California, has been deeply involved in local politics throughout his life, fueling his passion for civic engagement. As a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation, John’s research centers on Indigenous identity and political behavior, with a particular focus on the nuances of indigeneity in the Americas. After teaching for a year in the Department of Administration of Justice at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo, John is starting at California State University, Fullerton. His goal is to build a bridge between academia and tribes, so that traditional ways of learning, and the elders who teach us, are incorporated into our curriculum, empowering tribes in the education of their own.
Jessica HyunJeong Lee (Psychology)
Dr. Vanessa Calderon is an incoming Assistant Professor in the CSUF Department of Psychology. Originally from East Los Angeles, she completed her B.A. in Psychology at Yale University and went on to receive her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Southern California where she also completed a Master of Public Health degree in Community Health Promotion. Dr. Calderon received specialized clinical training in early psychosis as a NIMH-funded T32 postdoctoral fellow at the UCLA Semel Institute. Her research centers on understanding and addressing mental health inequities affecting Latine youth and families. She employs mixed-methods approaches to examine how sociocultural and structural factors shape mental health treatment utilization. Dr. Calderon is dedicated to mentoring and teaching students and advancing inclusive, community-engaged scholarship.
Sarah Chavez (Psychology)
Dr. Chavez earned her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Research on Substance Use from UC San Diego and San Diego State University, where she investigated adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among Latinx young adults and examined how mental health symptoms and social support influence the relationship between ACEs and heavy episodic drinking in this group. Additionally, she has an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from CSU, Northridge, and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Redlands. She completed postdoctoral training at Brown University’s Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies (T32AA007459) and USC’s eIRTI program (R25DA050687).
Her research investigates the etiology of alcohol/substance use and mental health symptoms in Latinx young adults and college students, with a key emphasis on adversity, culture, and institutional belonging. She aims to develop culturally tailored interventions to mitigate these outcomes.
Hossein Karimi (Psychology)
Dr. Hossein Karimi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at California State University, Fullerton. His research focuses the cognitive processes underlying human language processing, with a focus on memory, as well as the effect of cognitive aging on language processing and memory. He received his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of California, Davis. Dr. Karimi’s work has been published in journals such as Cognition, and Journal of Memory and Language. He will be running the Cognition of Language Lab (CoLLab) at CSUF.
Jessica HyunJeong Lee (Political Science )
Dr. Jessica HyunJeong Lee is an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Division of Politics, Administration, and Justice. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from UCLA and was previously an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts. Her research focuses on racial and ethnic politics, Asian American politics, immigration, citizenship, political behavior, and social movements. More specifically, her work explores questions at the intersection of policy and political behavior, examining how immigration policies shape identity, attitudes, and behavior among Asian and Latino undocumented immigrants. Her work has been published in journals such as American Political Science Review, Research & Politics, and Social Psychological and Personality Science.