Communication Studies

The College of Arts and Sciences is happy welcome six nine new CAS faculty members into the UP community.

Aarti B. Arora, Ph.D, Visiting Lecturer, Communication Studies   
Born and raised in India, Aarti B. Arora received her doctoral degree at the Scripps College of Communication, Ohio University, and earned her master’s degree in Communication Studies from Marshall University. She received her undergraduate degree in English Literature and Child Psychology from St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad, and earned credits towards her undergraduate degree by attending Harvard Summer School at Harvard University. Her primary interest lies in uncovering what motivates people to choose complementary and alternative medicine and how culture and communication influence such choices.

Christina A. Astorga, Ph.D,Chair, Professor, Department of Theology
Christina A. Astorga previously taught at Gonzaga University. She was the first woman and layperson to serve as Chair of the Theology Department of the Ateneo de Manila-Loyola Schools, and completed her doctoral degree at the Loyola School of Theology in 1992. She did her post-doctoral study as a visiting scholar at Weston Jesuit School of Theology from 1996-1997, was a Fellow at the Jesuit Institute of Boston College in 2003, and at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University in 2004. She was the Founding Director for the Center for the Study of Catholic Social Thought of Duquesne University from 2007-2011. Her second book, Catholic Moral Theology and Social Ethics: A New Method, received the 2014 College Theology Society Best Book Award. Astorga was the recipient of the National Outstanding Teacher Award in the Philippines in 2000.

Gregory May, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor, Psychological Sciences
After completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Portland, Gregory May completed his doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Pacific University’s School of Professional Psychology. May has been a professor since 2008, teaching undergraduate and graduate level psychology courses at both his alma maters. He has a clinical practice in Vancouver, Washington, specializing in traumatic stress response, relationships, psychoeducational and vocational assessment, and organizational consulting. His background in Montessori education provides the foundation for creating collaborative learning environments, fostering andragogical learning by placing an emphasis on experiential opportunities.

Matthias Kullowatz, M.S., Visiting Assistant Professor, Mathematics
Matthias Kullowatz has taught mathematics and statistics at the University of Porltand, as well as at Portland State University, Washington State University, and the Portland Jewish academy. In the past five years, he has worked in various capacities with students ranging in age from three to 60 years old. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Lewis and Clark College and his master’s degree from Portland State University, where he taught as a graduate assistant. Matthias spends his free time playing sports and writing about statistical trends in sports. In 2013 he started a website dedicated to the analysis of Major League Soccer, and he thinks that Sporting Kansas City—not the Seattle Sounders—are the plurality favorites to repeat as MLS Cup Champions in 2014.

Jen McDaneld, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor, English
Jen McDaneld comes to the University of Portland from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of English and Comparative Literature. She holds a Ph.D. in American literature from UNC and a Graduate Certificate in Feminist Studies from Duke University. Her research examines how narratives about the early U.S. women’s rights movement circulate in twentieth and twenty-first century American cultural discourse, with essays recently published and forthcoming in journals like Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers and Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. Her current project explores first-wave feminist memoir as a way of theorizing the relationship between U.S. feminism and American literary history.

Jeffrey W. Meiser, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Political Science
Before joining the Political Science Department at the University of Portland, Jeffrey W. Meiser was an Associate Professor at the College of International Security Affairs in the Regional and Analytical Studies Department and Director of the South and Central Asia Program. At CISA he has taught Methods of Analysis and Argumentation, Research Methods, American Way of War, Strategic Thought, and Frontline of Global War:  South Asia Since 1979. He previously taught courses on American foreign policy and energy and environmental security at the University of California, Santa Barbara, The Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Mannheim. Meiser’s book Power and Restraint:  The Rise of the United States, 1898-1941 will be published next year by Georgetown University Press. He grew up in Western Washington and is happy to be back in the Pacific Northwest after nine years of exile in Washington, DC.

Susan Murray, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Biology
Susan Murray has been interested in the immune system since the summer following her junior year in college when she foreswore waitressing at Marc’s Big Boy Restaurant to take a job in an immunology laboratory at the University of Wisconsin. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, she obtained a Ph.D. from Oregon Health & Science University in 2002. Following a one-year hiatus as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Portland, Susan completed a post-doctoral fellowship at OHSU and went on to become a research assistant professor in the department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. During this time, she also taught immunology at the University of Portland as an adjunct faculty member. Susan is excited to be back at UP full-time as an assistant professor in the biology department. She maintains close contacts with her immunology colleagues at OHSU and is an affiliate member of the Molecular Microbiology and Immunology department there.

Sruthi Rothenfluch, Ph.D, Visiting Assistant Professor, Philosophy
Sruthi Rothenfluch completed her doctoral degree at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln in 2011, and is a 2003 alumna. Before joining the Philosophy Department, she taught at Pacific University, Lewis and Clark College, and at the University of Portland as an adjunct professor. Her research interests lie primarily in epistemology and, more recently, neuroethics. Rothenfluch is a Portland native, living in the northwest with her husband and daughter, and is happy to have settled in Portland after stints in the mid-west and Washington state.

Valerie Walters, Ph.D., Instructor, Chemistry
A native of Michigan, Valerie Walters received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Yale University. Since then she has taught chemistry at Lafayette College (where she was awarded tenure), Haverford College, Willamette University and, for the past two years, as an adjunct and visiting instructor at the University of Portland. She was the owner of a consulting business specializing in chemical education. After teaching for many years and fueled by an additional interest in chemical information, she earned an M.S. in Library and Information Science from Drexel University. She is a member of the American Chemical Society and the Special Library Association (Chemistry Division). She has lived on both coasts and in the Midwest, but loves the Pacific Northwest region most of all.