The CAH Advisory Council provides guidance, feedback, and support to the directors. Its members are drawn from departments and units across campus in the arts, humanities, and adjacent fields.
Andrew Ishak
Communication
Andrew is interested in questions around culture, time, teams, and communication. His recent work includes Abouna, a film series that explores identity and communication in a bicultural church community. He has also written about sports teams and emergency response units. Andrew served as Director of the Undergraduate Core Curriculum (2021-24) and currently serves as Faculty Athletics Representative for SCU.
Jeffrey Bracco
Theatre and Dance
Jeff is a director, actor and playwright who has worked in both the United States and Europe. He has directed numerous professional theatre productions, including his own play, ShakesPod at the Edinburgh Fringe, two world premieres in Paris, and he directs regularly in the Bay Area. He has written or co-written several produced plays, most recently, Truce: A Christmas Wish from the Great War (co-written with Kit Wilder). Jeff trained at the Jacques Lecoq International School of Theatre in Paris and earned his MFA from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a Teaching Professor in Directing, Acting and Musical Theatre and also a proud alumnus of SCU.
Nicole Branch
University Library
Nicole is the Dean of the University Library at Santa Clara University. In her time at Santa Clara, Nicole has also held the positions of Associate University Librarian, Head of Instruction & Assessment, and Assessment Coordinator & Instruction Librarian. Prior to becoming a librarian, Nicole worked for over a decade in non-profit organizations that advanced educational and racial justice in public schools and districts in the East Bay and San Francisco– work that continues to inform her approach to librarianship. Nicole’s scholarship focuses on the intersections of critical theory, research methodologies, and information literacy.
Meilin Chinn
Philosophy
Meilin Chinn is a philosopher and teacher of Chinese Philosophy, Aesthetics, Environmental Philosophy, and Buddhism. Across her work, Chinn focuses on broadening the cultural and conceptual boundaries of philosophy. Her current projects include a book about musical meaning (Listening into the Distance) and a series of essays on Daoism, nature, and environmental crisis. Chinn also maintains a long-running scholarly and artistic investigation into the void.
Sonia Gomez
History
Sonia C. Gomez is an Assistant Professor of History at Santa Clara University. As a historian of the 20th-century United States, she is interested in race and ethnic relations; gender, sexuality, and intimacy; and migration and diaspora. Her first book, Picture Bride, War Bride: The Role of Marriage in Shaping Japanese America (forthcoming) examines the ways in which marriage created pockets of legal and social inclusion for Japanese women during a period of racial inclusion. Her next project tentatively titled, Across Barbed Wire and Racial Lines, explores Japanese American incarceration through interracial female friendship. She has published in the Journal of American Ethnic History and Amerasia.
Scot Hanna-Weir
Music
Scot is Director of Choral Activities, conducting the University's two major choral ensembles and Artistic Director of the Santa Clara Chorale, an auditioned community choir celebrating its 60th anniversary season. In addition to his conducting engagements, Scot is also an active composer with particular focus on fusing electronics and choral performance and addressing issues of social justice and inequity through choral literature.
Kai Harris
English
Kai is an author and professor of creative writing who specializes in fiction, African Diaspora writing, and the slave narrative genre. Her critically-acclaimed debut novel, What the Fireflies Knew (February 2022, Tiny Reparations Books) is a coming-of-age novel that explores family dynamics and generational trauma through the lens of Black Girlhood. In addition to fiction, Kai has published poetry, personal essays, and peer-reviewed academic articles on topics related to Black girlhood and womanhood, mental health, social justice, generational trauma, and Black identity.
Haruka Umetsu Cho
Religious Studies
Haruka is a teacher and scholar whose interests span Christian theology, East Asian literature, feminist/queer theories, and post/decolonial studies. Her book projects focus on themes of the Divine, eros, and bodies and analyze how, in the context of modernism and neo/colonialism, those themes have been transmitted, reinterpreted, and transformed in Japanese literary and artistic space.
Past Faculty/Staff Advisory Council Members
2023-2024
Lauren Baines, de Saisset Museum, lbaines@scu.edu
Nicole Branch, University Library, nbranch@scu.edu
Meilin Chinn, Philosophy, mchinn@scu.edu
Justin Clardy, Philosophy, jclardy@scu.edu
Sonia Gomez, History, sgomez@scu.edu
Allia Griffin, Ethnic Studies, agriffin@scu.edu
Scot Hanna-Weir, Music, shannaweir@scu.edu
Kai Harris, English, kharris@scu.edu
Mythri Jegathesan, Anthropology, mjegathesan@scu.edu
Brian Thorstenson, Theatre and Dance, bthorstenson@scu.edu
2022 -2023
Lauren Baines, de Saisset Museum, lbaines@scu.edu
Nicole Branch, University Library, nbranch@scu.edu
Justin Clardy, Philosophy, jclardy@scu.edu
Allia Griffin, Ethnic Studies, agriffin@scu.edu
Scot Hanna-Weir, Music, shannaweir@scu.edu
Kai Harris, English, kharris@scu.edu
Angela Holzmeister, Classics, aholzmeister@scu.edu
Mythri Jegathesan, Anthropology, mjegathesan@scu.edu
Brian Thorstenson, Theatre and Dance, bthorstenson@scu.edu
Michael Whalen, Communication, mwhalen@scu.edu
2021-2022
Bruno Ruviaro <bruviaro@scu.edu>,
Katherine Aoki <kaoki@scu.edu>,
Sharmila Lodhia <SLodhia@scu.edu>,
Danielle Morgan <dmorgan@scu.edu>,
Daniel Turkeltaub <dturkeltaub@scu.edu>,
Kristin Kusanovic <kkusanovich@scu.edu>,
Karen Peterson-Iyer <kpetersoniyer@scu.edu>,
Nicole Branch <nbranch@scu.edu>
Justin Clardy <jclardy@scu.edu>
2020-2021
Aldo Billingslea <abillingslea@scu.edu>,
Bruno Ruviaro <bruviaro@scu.edu>,
Katherine Aoki <kaoki@scu.edu>,
Sharmila Lodhia <SLodhia@scu.edu>,
Danielle Morgan <dmorgan@scu.edu>,
Daniel Turkeltaub <dturkeltaub@scu.edu>,
Kristin Kusanovic <kkusanovich@scu.edu>,
Karen Peterson-Iyer <kpetersoniyer@scu.edu>,
Nicole Branch <nbranch@scu.edu>