Professor

Press Releases

Pitzer College Welcomes New Faculty in the Humanities and Sciences  

Andrea Acosta has dark wavy hair with blond tips pulled up in a bun. Acosta wears gold dangling earrings and a black dress with colorful intricate patterns in gold, red, white, and blue.Five new tenure-track faculty have joined the Pitzer community of scholars with the start of the academic year. Their fields include anthropology, media studies, economics, English and world literature, and environmental analysis, and each brings expertise in research and scholarship that reflects their engagement with contemporary issues. In addition, several current professors also received promotions this fall.
November 3, 2023
Press Releases

Pitzer Professor Expands Mental Healthcare Globally With Friendship Bench Zimbabwe

Marcus Rodriguez on the far right sits on a wood bench with a sign for Friendship Bench on the back rest. A Friendship Bench worker sits on the opposite side of the bench and other workers gather behind the bench.“Why I train grandmothers to treat depression”: This 2018 TED talk by Dixon Chibanda about Friendship Bench Zimbabwe planted a seed that Associate Professor of Psychology Marcus Rodriguez has brought to fruition in a new cross-cultural partnership. Chibanda founded Friendship Bench Zimbabwe to bridge the country’s mental health treatment gap through community-based psychological intervention. Rodriguez [Read More...]
October 24, 2023
Press Releases

Courses Take Exciting and Unexpected Shapes Thanks to the Hive

Claremont, Calif. (May 23, 2023)—Have you ever thought about intertwining art and math by shaping clay? Or connecting historic surf craft to environmentalism? How about wildcrafting and the ethics of foraging? Through these explorations and more, Pitzer students, faculty, and staff are reimagining learning with support from the Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative [Read More...]
May 23, 2023
Press Releases

Professor Alicia Bonaparte Organizes a Conference About Black Midwifery at Pitzer

Claremont, Calif. (April 21, 2023)—From April 28 to 29, Pitzer College is hosting the Midwifery is Public Health (MIPH) conference, which will explore the historic and ongoing legacy of Black midwives. As one of the organizers, Pitzer Professor of Sociology Alicia Bonaparte is excited to share her passion for Black community health and birthing with the local community.
April 21, 2023
Press Releases

The Power of Two: Enriching Student Academic Experiences With Co-Taught Classes

Jon Shields and Phil Zuckerman sit beside each other at a long wood table. They smile and look to their left at a student offscreen. Shields is bald and wears a long-sleeved dark blue and white plaid shirt. Zuckerman is bald and wears black glasses and a blue sweater. Copies of the book Irreversible Damage are in front of each of them.Claremont, Calif. (April 17, 2023)—In a co-taught Pitzer class, education is an experiment in collaboration. This year, several dynamic professor duos have reached across subjects, disciplines, and even the Claremont Colleges to enrich their students’ academic experience and hands-on engagement. See how faculty have explored interdisciplinary dialogue and student-driven curriculum in political science, modern languages, and sociology and government. “Interdisciplinary learning expands the mind’s intellectual horizons,” said Professor Phil Zuckerman. “It makes you a better thinker and citizen.” 
April 17, 2023
Press Releases | Spotlights

The Faculty Next Door

Steffanie Guillermo and Jesica Kizer lean against the railing on Guillermo’s second-floor balcony. Steffanie Guillermo has long straight dark brown hair with auburn tips and wears hoop earrings, a floral shirt, and long black skirt. Jessica Kizer has shoulder-length curly black hair and wears a watch and a long black dress with white buttons.Meet two professors who have (literally) made their home at Pitzer College. Assistant Professor of Psychology Steffanie Guillermo and Assistant Professor of Sociology Jessica Kizer live in residence halls as this year’s faculty-in-residence to build community and engage students in an immersive living/learning environment. “It’s important that students and faculty get to know one another in a space that isn’t a classroom. An event in a residential setting is a way to level the playing field.”
November 3, 2022
Press Releases | Spotlights

Students Engage in International, Justice-Oriented Psychology Research

Huei Ming Lim and Professor Marcus Rodriguez sit in rolling chairs in Rodriguez’s office and smile at Sarah Mann as she stands and leans against a desk as she raises a hand mid-conversation. Rodriguez wears a dark blue and orange Pitzer sweatshirt. A tall shelf with various children’s books and figurines are to the left and a window with a view of the trees on campus are behind them.At the Global Mental Health Lab at Pitzer, Assistant Professor of Psychology Marcus Rodriguez makes science a team sport. Rodriguez founded the lab with an active, globally-minded approach to make mental health care more accessible and to give undergraduate students hands-on research opportunities in clinical psychology alongside local and international partners, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty. “I have my students doing the tasks that PhD students might do at another institution. My students are involved at every level of the scientific process.”
October 18, 2022