College of Arts and Letters

College Administration

Interim Dean: Ronnee Schreiber
Associate Dean: John Putman
Assistant Dean for Student Affairs: Aileen Taylor-Grant
Senior Director of Development: Keely Bamberg
Director of Resources Management: Elaine Rother

The College of Arts and Letters (CAL) is at the very heart of liberal arts education at San Diego State University. The largest and most diverse college of SDSU, CAL’s curricula in the humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields are offered through 18 academic departments and over 12 interdisciplinary programs. CAL faculty work to create, document, and share knowledge of human experiences, cultural expressions and practices, and beliefs and ideas. The College is defined by a deep commitment to rigorous intellectual debate in a diverse academic community and to the value of interdisciplinary and cross-cultural approaches to issues and problem-solving. CAL educates individuals to think creatively about the immense challenges of the 21st century, from racism to climate change, language acquisition to historical memory. CAL faculty members conduct original and ambitious research in the humanities, social sciences, ethnic and gender studies, languages and cultures, and STEM fields including geography and anthropology. CAL students, under the direction, mentorship, and academic supervision of faculty experts, develop specialized knowledge in their chosen disciplines, critical thinking and research skills, clear and effective writing, habits of lifelong learning, awareness of and sensitivity to issues of social justice, and the ability to understand and interpret diverse human experiences, past and present. They leave the College fully enabled to pursue their chosen careers with distinction, and become independent minded, socially responsible, and globally aware citizens.

College Centers and Institutes

Behner and Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies (Erika Robb Larkins, Director)
Bread and Roses Center (Kimala J. Price, Director)
Center for Asian and Pacific Studies (Minjeong Kim, Director)
Center for Better Food Futures (Pascale Joassart-Marcelli and John Love, Co-Directors)
Center for Comics Studies (Elizabeth Pollard and Pamela Jackson, Co-Directors)
Center for Community Research and Engagement (Jill Esbenshade, Director)
Center for Earth Systems Analysis Research (Trent W. Biggs, Piotr Jankowski, and Douglas A. Stow, Co-Directors)
Center for European Studies (Clarissa Clò, Director)
Center for Health Economics and Policy Studies (Joseph J. Sabia, Director)
Center for Human Dynamics in the Mobile Age (Ming-Hsiang Tsou, Director)
Center for Human Rights (Grace Cheng, Director)
Center for Information Convergence and Strategy (André Skupin and Akshay Pottathil, Co-Directors)
Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies (Ahmet Kuru, Director)
Center for Latin American Studies (Ramona L. Pérez, Director)
Center for Oral and Public History (David P. Cline, Director)
Center for Regional Sustainability (Jessica Barlow, Director)
Center for War and Society (Gregory A. Daddis, Director)
Complex Human-Environment Systems Center (Li An, Director)
Collections Management Program (Jaime Lennox, Director)
Institute for Ethics and Public Affairs (Joseph A. Stramondo, Director)
Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias (Paul Ganster, Director)
International Population Center (John R. Weeks and Douglas A. Stow, Co-Directors)
Language Acquisition Resource Center and National Language Training Center (LTC) (Mathias Schulze and Chris Brown, Co-Directors)
Lipinsky Institute (Risa Levitt Kohn, Director)
National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature (Lashon Daley, Director)
Social Science Research Laboratory (Cathy Cirina-Chiu, Managing Director)
South Coastal Information Center (Seth W. Mallios, Director; Jaime Lennox, Coordinator)
Watershed Science Institute (Trent W. Biggs, Director)
Young People’s Environments, Society and Space Research Center (Stuart C. Aitken, Director; Tom Herman, Project Director)