The Urban Studies faculty includes four fulltime faculty with appointments in the Urban Studies Program, about ten
fulltime faculty with appointments in other programs or departments who teach courses in Urban Studies, and occasional
visiting lecturers.
Philippe Bourgois is an Associate Professor of Anthropology. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University. Professor
Bourgois teaches urban anthropology. He is working on a book on the role of crack cocaine in the inner city economy of
New York City; he has also done extensive field research in Central America. His interests include politicl economy,
ethnicity, economic anthropology, immigration and the work process, and inner city poverty.
Rufus Browning is a Professor of Political Science. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University. Professor Browning teaches
data analysis. He is co-author with David Tabb of a prize winning book on the political incorporation of minorities into local
government in Northern California (Protest is Not Enough, l984) and of Racial Politics in American Cities (l990).
Roger Crawford is a Professor of Geography and Human Environmental Studies. He has an MUP and a Ph.D. in Urban
Geography from the University of Washington. Professor Crawford teaches city and regional planning, transportation,
environmental design, and environmental impact analysis. His interests include: regional landuse planning, wetlands and
water policy in the San Francisco Bay Area, and transportation.
Richard DeLeon is a Professor of Political Science. He has a Ph.D. in Political Science from Washington University, St.
Louis. Professor DeLeon teaches courses in research methods and public policy analysis. He has just published a prize
winning book on San Francisco politics: Left Coast City: Progressive Politics in San Francisco. His current research interests
include: the politics of growth management in San Francisco, neighborhood commercial district change, practical politics,
and mathematical modeling of political behavior.
Bill Issel is a Professor of History. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Issel teaches the
Dynamics of the American City course. His published work includes Social Change in the United States, l945-l983 and two
books and three articles on the politics of urban policy in San Francisco. He is currently working on another San Francisco
book covering the l930 to l960 period as well as a study of liberalism and urban policy in five American cities.
Richard LeGates is a Professor of Urban Studies. He received a combined MCP/JD degree from U.C. Berkeley and is a lawyer
and city planner. Professor LeGates teaches courses in urban housing policy, land use and environmental regulation,
research methods, and urban growth management. He is the director of the SFSU Public Research Institute's growth
management and housing affordability project.
Debbie LeVeen is a Professor of Urban Studies. She has a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago.
Professor LeVeen is the coordinator for Urban Studies internships, and she teaches courses in health policy, urban
development and urban futures, and public policy-making. Her research interests focus upon health policy, and she has
written on the reemergence of midwifery as an alternative to medicallymanaged childbirth and source of primary care for
underserved women. She is also involved with SFSUnet, a computer conferencing network aimed at improving linkages
between community needs and university resources.
Beverly Ovrebo is an Associate Professor of Health Education. She has a Ph.D in Public Health from UC Berkeley. She
teaches the course on homelessness and public policy. Her major research interests revolve around homelessness and the
elderly. She is the coordinator of the Bay Area Homelessness Program based at San Francisco State.
Raquel Rivera Pinderhughes is an Associate Professor of Urban Studies. She received her PhD in Sociology from the
Graduate Center of New York. She teaches courses in family and social welfare policy, dynamics of the American city,
research methods, social justice and the environment, and Latino poverty. She is the co-author of Latino Communities in the
United States: Beyond the Underclass Debate. Her research interests include work on family policy, urban poverty and
poverty in Latino communities, environmental quality in communities of color, and race and ethnic relations.
Michael Potepan is an Associate Professor of Economics. He received hi PhD from the University of California at Davis in
1985. Professor Potepan teaches urban economics. His published work includes articles in economics journals on: housing
price differences between metropolitan areas, housing prices and migration between metropolitan areas, an econometric
analysis of housing demand elasticity, and the economics of home improvement decisions. He has worked on a number of
SFSU Public Research Institute projects. He is currently working on a model of the underlying structure of employment and
production in San Francisco and the Bay Area.
Tim Sampson is a Professor of Social Work Education. He has a MSW from the University of Southern California and a long
history of organizing; he is currently president of the SFSU chapter of the California Faculty Association. Professor
Sampson teaches urban community organizing. His major research interests are: citizen organization and action -- how
people get together and build power to change institutions develop community, and raise their own and others'
consciousness.
Norm Schneider is a Professor of Urban Studies. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from UC Berkeley. Professor Schneider
teaches courses in urban economics, policy analysis, alternative urban futures, and nonprofits management. His current
research interests are in the economic impact of the arts and arts policy and the role of nonprofit organizations in urban life.
Genie Stowers is an Assistant Professor of Public Administration. She has a PhD in Political Science from Florida State
University. She teaches research methods as well as a range of courses in Public Administration (policy analysis,
budgeting, management). Her research interests revolve around the question of political options for and service needs of
politically marginalized groups; she has written about Cuban Americans in Miami, domestic violence shelters, and gay and
lesbian politics. She has also done work on land-use planning. She is currently serving on the board of Women, Inc, a San
Francisco nonprofit dealing with domestic violence.
David Tabb is a professor of Political Science. He has a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina.
Professor Tabb is the co-author with Rufus Browning of a prize winning book on the political incorporation of minorities
into local government in Northern California.
VISITING LECTURERS
In addition to the fulltime faculty the Urban Studies Program draws on visiting lecturers to enrich the program's offerings in
specialized areas of particular topical importance and to bring practitioners into the program to assure a close connection
between theory and practice. Recent lecturers have included: the director of planning at the Association of Bay Area
governments, a land-use lawyer, a policy analyst from the SF Department of Public Works, and planners from the SF
Department of City Planning and the Marin County planning department.