About the Book and the Authors/Contributors

Jennifer Ounjian, Creator/Remixer/Contributor

Jennifer is a tenured professor at Contra Costa College and department chair for the Psychology Department. She also teaches at Madera Community College in Ethnic Studies and Psychology. Jennifer earned her BA in African American Studies with a minor in Armenian Studies at CSU Fresno, MA in Afro-American Studies (Sociology concentration) at UCLA, and MA and EdD (ABD) in Counseling Psychology at Argosy University. She has worked in higher education for over 20 years in a variety of positions starting with TRiO programs in East Los Angeles and Pasadena, a decade in academic management, and now 12 years in the faculty ranks. Jennifer has foundhas a cherished creative and intellectual outlet in OER and ancillary development in addition to online course instructional design and curriculum development. You will find several contributions from her to this book listed as "Our Local Stories" documenting the history of minoritized populations in the Central Valley of California.

Erika Gutierrez, Author/Contributor

Erika is a tenured sociology/ethnic studies professor at Santiago Canyon College, and she occasionally teaches part time at Long Beach City College.

Dr. Janét Hund, Author/Contributor

Dr. Janét Hund is a tenured full-time professor in Sociology at Long Beach City College; she currently serves at the Social Sciences Department Chair. She began her full-time tenure at Long Beach City College in 1997. Janét recently earned her EdD in Community College Leadership from National American University. She earned her M.A. in Sociology at Arizona State University and her B.A. in Sociology/Minority Studies at Wichita State University. After incorporating OER texts for years in her Introduction to Sociology and Modern Social Problems courses, she desired to adopt OER material for her Race & Ethnic Relations in the U.S. course. She is appreciative of a former student trustee who called her attention to the OER movement nearly a decade ago. She is committed to her personal and professional growth to better serve our diverse student body. Her children, Jonas and Jakobi Oware, created images, charts and tables found throughout this book.

Shaheen Johnson, Author/Contributor

Shaheen Johnson is a tenure-track full-time professor in Sociology at Long Beach City College. She received her M.A. and B.A. in Sociology from California State University, Dominguez Hills. She is passionate when it comes to serving low-income, first-generation college students. Through her personal experience as a low-income, first-generation college student, she is able to empathize with students and relate to many of their struggles. By offering OER material in her courses, it’s one barrier that she is happy to remove in an effort to ease the financial burden many students carry.

Carlos Ramos, Author/Contributor

Carlos Ramos is a tenured full-time professor of Sociology at Long Beach City College who began teaching sociology at the college level in 2001. Carlos earned a B.A. in Sociology/Psychology from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He recently completed the OER transition of his Introduction to Sociology and Modern Social Problems courses, and they are now zero-cost textbook courses, without having to sacrifice academic rigor. He recently worked closely with Long Beach City College colleagues to create a zero-cost textbook and course materials for the course, Race and Ethnic Relations in the United States, and plans to create and adopt OER materials the course, Sociology of Latinos, in Summer 2021.

Lisette Rodriguez, Author/Contributor

Currently a tenure-track full-time Sociology faculty member at Long Beach City College, Lisette Rodriguez received her M.A. in Sociology from California State University Northridge and a B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Latin American Studies from the University of California Santa Barbara. She has 17 years of experience working with college students both inside and outside of the classroom. In addition to her work as a sociology faculty, she has also developed and managed student access, equity, diversity, service learning and international education programs. Lisette is an avid world traveler and has coordinated study abroad and international service learning programs for students in seven countries throughout Latin America and Europe. Through her work, she hopes to empower and motivate students to be passionate about sociology and inspired to impact, question and change the world around them.

Joy Tsuhako, Author/Contributor

Joy Tsuhako is a tenure-track faculty member in the Department of Sociology at Cerritos College, which was the first school she attended before transferring to Cal State Long Beach to earn a Bachelor's in Sociology with an emphasis on global issues and social change. She completed her Master's at Cal State Fullerton and wrote a thesis titled, "Lived Experiences of Young, Urban, Fundamentalist Latinas: Understandings and Negotiations of Cultural and Faith-Based Values." She teaches Introduction to Sociology, Social Problems, Race and Ethnic Relations in the U.S., and Cultural Diversity in addition to advising the Sociology and Environmental clubs at Cerritos College.

David Goto, Contributor

David Goto is the tenured full-time Pacific Coast Campus and Reference Librarian at Long Beach City College. He earned his Associates Degree from Fullerton College, B.A. in American History and M.A. in American and European History from CSU Fullerton. His M.L.I.S. was earned at San Jose State University with an emphasis in academic and special libraries. Before working as an adjunct librarian at Long Beach City College, he was an adjunct at Fullerton College, Cypress College, Chapman University, and Orange Coast College. His first attempt at OER was a series of guides he created at Cypress College and Fullerton College in 2006-2007. The first OER guide he created at LBCC was in 2015. With a passionate interest in our students and faculty, he is available at the LBCC Library reference desk on most days of the week.

Kay Fischer, M.A. (she/her/hers)

Kay Fischer is an instructor of Ethnic Studies at Chabot College in Hayward, CA, where 100% of Ethnic Studies courses are proudly zero or low textbook cost. She is also an advisor to the Stay Woke Collective club and part of Chabot’s Movement learning community, focused on Asian American and Pacific Islander culture and experiences. As a former community college student, Kay transferred from De Anza College to UC Berkeley and majored in Ethnic Studies, where she found her voice and roots in student organizing. She has an MA in Teaching from USF and an MA in Asian American Studies from SF State. Besides teaching, Kay organizes around issues of decolonization, peace and reunification in the Korean peninsula, and justice for so-called “Comfort Women.”

Mario Alberto Viveros Espinoza-Kulick, M.A., Ph.D. (he/él)

Dr. Mario Alberto Viveros Espinoza-Kulick is an Instructor of Ethnic Studies at Cuesta College, Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies Community College Faculty Fellow, poet, scholar, and author. He earned a BA in Ethnic Studies with a minor in Indigenous Studies in Natural Resources and the Environment from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. His MA and PhD in Sociology were achieved at the University of California, Santa Barbara, as a Health Policy Research Scholar funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. His work with and for Chicanx and Latinx communities is rooted in a commitment to family and community on California's Central Coast and in Michoacán, Mexico (Purépecha). Dr. Espinoza-Kulick shares stories about culture, health equity, and community leadership as a host of Central Coast Voices on the National Public Radio (NPR) station KCBX. His work has been published in Oxford University Press, the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Health Promotion Practice, and regional news outlets like El Latino, Santa Maria Times, and the Santa Barbara Independent.

Ulysses Acevedo, M.A. (he/him)

Ulysses Acevedo is an instructor of Ethnic Studies at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, CA. After transferring from community college, Ulysses attended San Francisco State University, earning a B.A. in Latina/o Studies and an M.A. in Ethnic Studies. Informed by his own experience as the first person in his family to attend college, the focus of his research has been the role of identity-based student group participation on retention and completion rates for Chicano men at community colleges. In the past he has taught courses have included traditional face-to-face on-campus classes; both asynchronous and synchronous online classes; and dual-enrollment community college classes taught off-campus, including at middle, high, adult and continuation schools.

Teresa Hodges, Ph.D. (she/her/hers/siya)

Teresa Hodges is an instructor of Ethnic Studies at Cuyamaca College in El Cajon, CA. She was a California State University Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program Scholar (2018-2019). She has her Ph.D. in Education from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, an M.A. in Asian American Studies from San Francisco State University, and a B.A. in Ethnic Studies from UC San Diego. Her work centers Critical Mixed Race Studies, Asian American Studies, Black Studies, Feminist Studies, and Comparative Ethnic Studies. She aims to cultivate transformative educational experiences that help others to heighten their consciousness, develop deeper connections to community, and inspire action that promotes change in the world around them.

Melissa Leal, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

Dr. Melissa Leal is an enrolled member of the Ohlone/Costanoan Esselen Nation. She earned her Ph.D. In Native American Studies from the University of California, Davis and currently teaches and serves as the Ethnic Studies Department Chair and Tribal Liaison at Sierra College. Her research focuses on contemporary film, music, dance and other performance arts in indigenous communities. She has worked with tribes and tribal youth for more than 20 years focusing on education, language revitalization, and California Indian Studies.

Tamara Cheshire, Ed.D. (she/her/they/them)

Pictured left to right Dr. Tamara Cheshire and Jordan Burkart

Dr. Tamara Cheshire (Lakota) is a Native American Scholar and the Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department at Folsom Lake College. She is the Co-Chair of the Los Rios District Ethnic Studies Faculty Council, a member of the California Community College Ethnic Studies Faculty Council and is serving on the California Community College Chancellor’s Office/ASCCC Ethnic Studies Taskforce. She has her doctorate in Educational Leadership from Sacramento State, her MA in Interdisciplinary Studies and BS degree in American Studies with Ethnic Studies emphasis and discipline focus in Native American Studies from Oregon State. She has published several articles, chapters, and a book about the barriers faced by and the resiliency of Native American students in higher education.

Jordan Burkart is a Native American student at Sacramento State majoring in Photography.