Faculty
Regular Faculty

Julie Prebel, Chair
Professor, American Studies; Director of Writing Center
B.A., UC Berkeley; M.A., Cal State San Francisco; Ph.D., University of Washington
Julie Prebel is Professor of American Studies and Director of the Writing Center.

Heather Lukes
Associate Professor, American Studies
B.A., UC Berkeley; M.A., Ph.D., UCLA
Heather Lukes teaches courses on queer theory, queer color critique, queer L.A., and psychoanalysis.

Xiao-huang Yin
Professor, American Studies
B.A., Nanjing University; M.A., Ph.D., Harvard University
Xiao-huang Yin specializes in Asian American studies, U.S.-Asia relations, and modern China.
Advisory Committee

Sharla Fett
Robert Glass Cleland Professor in American History
B.A., Carleton College; M.A., Stanford University; Ph.D., Rutgers University
Sharla Fett teaches courses on early U.S. and African American history, including the Atlantic World, Slavery and the Antebellum South, U.S. Women’s History, and Collective Memory and Slavery’s Legacies. Read her Oxy Story profile.

Yumi Pak
Associate Professor, Black Studies
B.A., University of California, Santa Cruz; M.A., P.h.D, University of California, San Diego
Yumi Pak is a student, scholar and instructor of Black literary and cultural studies, particularly within the overlaps and interstices between the United States, Scotland and Jamaica.

Raul Villa
Professor, Latino/a & Latin American Studies
B.A., Yale University; M.A., University of Michigan; Ph.D., UC Santa Cruz
Raul Villa's major areas of scholarly and curricular expertise are in Chicano and U.S. literature and popular culture, urban studies (with a particular emphasis on Los Angeles cultural studies), and Southwest/Borderlands literature and expressive culture.
Affiliated Faculty

Erica Ball
Professor of Black Studies
B.A., Wesleyan University; M.A., Ph.D., The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Erica L. Ball is a historian who specializes in nineteenth and twentieth-century African American history.