CLA - Key Persons


Alejandra Cebreros

Job Titles:
  • Multicultural Academic Advisor

Ashley Davis

Job Titles:
  • Faculty Recruitment and Contract Analyst

Cal Poly

Job Titles:
  • Communications Guidelines
Cal Poly's Communication Studies Department helps students to understand the process of human communication and grasp its historical context and contemporary relevance in a global society. Students learn the theory and practice of communication in a variety of contexts, developing their critical reasoning, speaking and writing skills, and appreciation of how culture influences their lives.

Cara King

Job Titles:
  • Lead Communications Specialist

Chrissy Ybarra

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Coordinator
  • Administrative Coordinator for Advancement

Debi Schwartz

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Coordinator

Grace Yeh

Job Titles:
  • Professor
Professor Grace Yeh and her students are capturing the diverse - yet under-documented - ethnic communities of the region. The multiple projects, titled "Re/Collecting," digitize family materials and interviews into searchable databases. In one project, Yeh draws from interviews and archives to explore the first Filipino migrants to the Central Coast.

Heidi Velasco

Job Titles:
  • Receptionist

Jane L. Lehr

Job Titles:
  • Director of Research Engagement & Internationalization

Josh Machamer

Job Titles:
  • Associate Dean for Operations

Joy Sisler

Job Titles:
  • Finance and Budget Analyst

Kate Murphy

Job Titles:
  • Associate Dean for Student Success

Katie Harris

Job Titles:
  • Academic Advisor

Kelly Bennion

Job Titles:
  • Interim Associate Dean for Diversity and Curriculum

Lynne Ricard

Job Titles:
  • Executive Assistant to the Dean

Melissa Bodin

Job Titles:
  • Evaluations Process Analyst
  • Faculty Analyst and Staff Evaluations

Moon-ja Yunouye-Petz

Job Titles:
  • Senior Director of Development

Nicole Troy

Job Titles:
  • Communications Specialist

Philip Williams

Job Titles:
  • Dean
Philip Williams began his role as dean of Cal Poly's College of Liberal Arts in August 2019. Previously, he served as director of the Center for Latin American Studies and Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida. He was also Co-Partnership Director for the Colombia-U.S. Human Rights Law School Program and co-directed the Program for Immigration, Religion, and Social Change (PIRSC). Williams holds a Master of Philosophy degree in Latin American Studies and Doctor of Philosophy in politics from the University of Oxford in 1986. He is co-author of "Living "Illegal": The Human Face of Unauthorized Immigration (The New Press, 2011), "Militarization and Demilitarization in El Salvador's Transition to Democracy" (University of Pittsburgh 1997),The Catholic Church and Politics in Nicaragua and Costa Rica (Macmillan 1989), and co-editor of "A Place to Be: Brazilian, Guatemalan, and Mexican Immigrants in Florida's New Destinations" (Rutgers University Press, 2009) and of Christianity, Globalization, and Social Change in the Americas (Rutgers University 2001). Williams earned a number of prestigious fellowships and grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, Fulbright, National Science Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Tinker Foundation, United States Agency for International Development, United States Department of Education, United States Institute of Peace, and United States Department of State.

Richard Besel

Job Titles:
  • Professor
Professor Richard Besel and undergraduate student, Brittani Hidahl, embarked on a class project exploring the significance of Katy Perry's song, "I Kissed A Girl," that resulted in an opportunity to publish a book chapter and present at the National Communication Association Convention.

Sabrina Canady

Job Titles:
  • Lead Academic Advisor