Michelle Eng, M.A., is Director of Undergraduate Studies at CIIS. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees in English Literature from the University of Hawaii, Manoa. Prior to joining CIIS, she was Assistant Dean of Students at Chaminade University of Honolulu, and has served as an adjunct faculty member teaching writing, ESL, and literature at TransPacific Hawaii College, Chaminade University, and the University of Hawaii for the past eight years.

Alec MacLeod, MFA, has 20 years of experience in higher education—as a classroom teacher and as an administrator. He was a member of the design team for CIIS's undergraduate degree completion program and the program's inaugural director. He received his undergraduate education at Hampshire College where he studied philosophy and fine arts. Alec also holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture from Stanford University and has studied information science at the University of California at Berkeley. His current areas of interest include the visual culture of the Internet, visual explorations of theories of perception, and pedagogies for multicultural education.

Cindy Shearer, D.A., has worked exclusively with adult learners since 1991. She has a Doctor of Arts (D.A.) in English from the State University of New York at Albany, an M.A., concentration in Creative Writing, from Antioch University's International Writing Program in London, England, and a B.A. from Wright State University. Cindy teaches and practices " Writing as Art," a process that allows writers to explore the aesthetic aspects of writing and the dynamic relationship between word and image.

Sonya Shah, MA, was the director of community outreach in KQED’s Education Network before joining CIIS. For the past 12 years she has worked as a community artist, project director, and educator in the United States, United Kingdom, and India. She was a Fulbright Fellow and artist-in-residence at MS University of Baroda, India ,from 1996 to 1998. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from Brown University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Film and Video from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she was a Jacob Javits fellow. Her most recent documentary, Something between Her Hands, examines the growing problem of sex slavery and labor for women in Southeast Asia. It has been shown internationally at more than 60 festivals, conference, and colleges.

Adjunct Faculty

Sujatha Baliga, J.D. earned a B.A. from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests include the Restorative Justice Movement, forgiveness, and Tibetan notions of justice. She is currently working on a law review article about the treatment of crime victims’ requests for nonretributive conflict resolution in United States criminal justice systems. In addition to her research and teaching interests, she does appellate work on capital cases in California.

Carole Barlas, Ph.D., earned a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis on adult learning from CIIS. She is an independent consultant in the field of organizational development and works with issues of diversity and leadership development.

Kris Brandenburger, Ph.D., earned a doctorate in Humanities from CIIS. She strives to balance her love of the poetic and the mechanical through a career as a self-employed auto electrician as well as by teaching returning adult learners.

Susan G. Carter, Ph.D., has developed and teaches a course in community activism at CIIS, and has spoken both nationally and internationally on a variety of spiritual and educational topics. She has a doctoral degree in Humanities, with a concentration in Philosophy and Religion, from CIIS.

Deborah Grenn-Scott, Ph.D., is the founder of The Lilith Institute, a center for the study of sacred text, myth, and ritual. She has a master's degree in Women's Spirituality from New College, and earned a doctorate in Humanities from CIIS, where she focused her research on women's religious rituals in South Africa and the United States.

Carol Manahan, M.A., is completing an interdisciplinary doctorate at the Graduate Theological Union. Her background includes training in theology, art, and ecology, and work in the environmental field.

Patricia Rojas-Zambrano, M.A., works with immigrant families from Latin America at a mental health agency in the San Francisco Bay Area. She earned a master's degree in Counseling Psychology, with a concentration in Expressive Arts Therapy, from CIIS.