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College 1 (Core Course) Faculty

  • Photo of Slug standing in for David Lau

    David Lau

    Poet, essayist, and editor David Lau is a continuing lecturer at College Nine, where he has taught courses since 2007. His books are Virgil and the Mountain Cat and Still Dirty. He is the co-editor of Lana Turner: a Journal of Poetry and Opinion. His poetry and essays have appeared in many publications, including New Left Review, Boston Review, Literary Hub,and The Margins.
  • Photo of Emily Murai

    Emily Murai

    Emily Murai is the Writing Program Liaison to College Nine and John R. Lewis College for the new College 1 Course. She has taught at UCSC for the past eight years, including College Nine Core and courses in the Writing Program and Environmental Studies. Emily earned her Ph.D in Geography from the University of Minnesota, and is a proud UCSC alum. Her scholarly interests include Human Geography, First-Year Composition and the First-Year Experience, and Writing Across the Curriculum/Writing in the Disciplines.
  • Photo of Gabriela Gavande

    Gabriela Gavande

    Gabriela Gavande has a Ph.D. in Literature, from the University of California. In addition to entering her fourth year teaching for College Nine, she teaches German at UCSC. Her research interests include Comparative Romanticisms, the political novel & empire, nationalisms and discursive formations of power, 19th century American multicultural literature and immigrant fiction, American literature in languages other than English, Translation Studies, German literature, Composition studies, and Second language acquisition.
  • Photo of Josh Brahinsky

    Josh Brahinsky

    Josh Brahinsky is a new lecturer to College Nine. He holds a Ph.D. in the History of Consciousness/Anthropology from UCSC. He also teaches American Studies at San Jose State University and has taught Philosphy and Religion. His current project is a book titled God’s Bodies: Training Pentecostals in the Art of Immediacy.
  • Photo of Remy Franklin

    Remy Franklin

    Remy Franklin is an educator and life coach based in Santa Cruz, California where he works at the intersection of personal transformation and social change. He received his MA in human geography at the University of Arizona where he studied debates about energy justice surrounding new price structures for rooftop solar. As an entrepreneur, activist, and writer, Remy has also worked on projects advancing international climate justice, sustainable food systems, and innovation in healthcare. He is a passionate learner, international traveler, rock climber, and yogi.
  • Photo of Slug Standing in for Toby Loeffler

    Toby Loeffler

    Toby Loeffler has Ph.D., Comparative Literature, from Cornell University, and has been teaching the College Nine Core Course for nine years. His research interests include: Writing pedagogy; Early-twentieth-century British and Spanish literature; history and theory of the British and European novel; British and European modernism; literature and nationalism; ideology; cultural studies
  • Photo of Slug standing in for Tomas Serres

    Thomas Serres

    Thomas Serres holds a Ph.D., Political Science from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. This is his third year teaching for College Nine and he is also a lecturer in the politics department where he teaches classes on political theory, the War on Terror and Middle Eastern politics. Thomas is a specialist of North African and Mediterranean politics and his scholarship focuses on questions of crisis, economic restructuring and postcoloniality. He has recently co-edited the volume North Africa and the Making of Europe: Governance, Institutions, Culture, published by Bloomsbury Academic Press. He also has a forthcoming monograph entitled Managing the Crisis, Blaming the People: The Suspended Disaster in Bouteflika's Algeria (Gérer la Crise, Blâmer le Peuple: De la Catastrophe Suspendue dans l'Algérie de Bouteflika). His new research investigates the securitization of human capital in the Mediterranean and the responses of postcolonial states to the economic reforms promoted by the European Union.