ADEP Faculty

Combining excellent academic credentials with practical business experience, the faculty at CLU is the University's greatest asset. Since CLU first opened its doors to students in 1961, the University has placed a high priority on the quality of its faculty.

We believe that sharing experiences and expertise contributes to the active learning process and to CLU's tradition of a quality learning experience. ADEP faculty members strive to know you individually and to communicate to you an evaluation of your progress. They consider themselves partners in your success.



Michael J. Arndt

Professor of Drama
  • B.A., Augsburg College
  • M.F.A., University of Minnesota

Besides teaching theatre in the Global Studies Program, acting, directing and oral interpretation of literature courses in Drama, Professor Arndt directs many of CLU's Mainstage Drama productions. Recent performances have included Kiss Me Kate, Hedda Gabler and Anything Goes. Professor Arndt is also project director for CLU's new Multimedia major and is developing an interactive CD-ROM textbook for theatre. Professor Arndt received CLU's 1997 President's Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Somnath Basu

Associate Professor of Business Administration
  • B.S., University of Delhi, India
  • M.B.A., Marquette University
  • Ph.D., University of Arizona

Dr. Basu was a tenured Associate Professor in finance at the University of Denver from 1989 to 1997. He has over 20 years experience both as a practitioner and in academia. He has authored a number of papers on business strategies and financial matters. He also serves as a reviewer for financial business journals.

Dennis Benton

Lecturer in Business Administration
  • B.S., M.B.A., Brigham Young University

Mr. Benton began teaching at CLU in 1990 and has taught Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting and Principles of Finance. He received a B.S., magna cum laude, in Economics from Brigham Young University in 1980, and an M.B.A., emphasis in finance and cost accounting, from the same institution in 1982. In 1978 he passed an examination and met other requirements to be named a Certified Management Accountant. Professor Benton has spent his entire career in healthcare, working for both publicly held and not-for-profit hospitals and related companies. He is currently chief financial officer of two acute care hospitals in the San Fernando Valley.

Julius Bianchi

Lecturer in Computer Science
  • B.S., M.P.A., Indiana University

Mr. Bianchi works full time as the director of User Services in the Information Systems and Services Department at CLU, runs training seminars and is responsible for the planning and delivery of new information systems and services. In addition to teaching in ADEP, Mr. Bianchi also teaches in the traditional undergraduate program, the graduate program in the School of Education and in the Continuing Education Program at CLU. Before coming to CLU, Mr. Bianchi worked on several different state and federal programs that provided technical support and staff development to local and state department educators.

John Birmingham

Lecturer in Philosophy
  • B.A., Milligan College
  • M.A., C.Phil., Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara

Dr. Birmingham has taught Social Ethics and Technology and Value at CLU since 2000. His special interests are in the philosophy of religion, moral philosophy, and the philosophy of logic. He has also taught at a number of other colleges and universities including U.C. Santa Barbara, Westmont College, Xavier University, and Moorpark College.

Pamela Brubaker

Associate Professor of Religion
  • B.A., Roosevelt University
  • M.A., United Theological Seminary, Dayton
  • M. Phil., Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary, New York

A Christian social ethicist, Dr. Brubaker researches and publishes on topics of economic ethics and feminist studies in religion. At CLU she teaches courses in Christian ethics and gender and religion. Dr. Brubaker taught at institutions of higher education in Ohio before coming to CLU. She has also worked in antipoverty programs, a local church, the National Council of Churches and campus women's centers. Dr. Brubaker is a member of the American Academy of Religion.

Jamshid Damooei

Associate Professor of Economics
  • M.Sc., Ph.D., Economics University of Surrey, England

Economic research (with special emphasis on international economics, industrial organization and development economics) is Dr. Damooei's subject of choice. As the former director general of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance in Iran, and later as a senior economist of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), he conducted a number of studies on the economies of developing countries such as Iran, Somalia and countries in the Horn of Africa. Dr. Damooei has traveled widely and is an international consultant for the UNDP.

Sharon D. Docter

Assistant Professor of Communication Arts
  • B.A., J.D., Ph. D., University of California, Los Angeles

An attorney and a specialist in communication theory and research, Professor Docter provides a special dimension to the Communication Arts Department. Along with working in securities and general business litigation, she has studied regulations of broadcasting, cable television and telephone companies. Her current research examines the regulation of new technologies such as the Internet. She teaches courses in media law, public speaking, communication theories, argumentation and business law.

Harry Domicone

Associate Professor of Business
  • B.G.S., Ohio University, Athens
  • M.B.A., California State University, San Luis Obispo
  • Ph.D., University of Cincinnati

With special research interests in the strategic management of international entrepreneurship, Professor Domicone teaches a variety of management and other business courses at CLU. Prior to coming to CLU, he has served as visiting assistant professor at the University of Louisville and as a lecturer at the University of Cincinnati and Arizona State University. Professor Domicone currently consults in the areas of new venture development and family and closely-held businesses. He is a member of several professional organizations, including the Academy of Management, the Strategic Management Society and the Academy of International Business.

Randall Donohue

Associate Professor of Business
  • B.A., Willamette University
  • M.Sc., University of Strathclyde (UK)
  • Ph.D., University of South Australia

A longtime practitioner of international marketing and public relations, Dr. Donohue joined academia full time in 1992. Prior to that, he lived in Singapore for 20 years supervising international programs and personnel in 14 countries. Donohue speaks three Asian languages and is an active member of the American Marketing Association. He serves as faculty adviser to the university Marketing Club.

Paul Egertson

Senior Lecturer of Religion
  • B.A., Pepperdine University
  • M. Div., Luther Theological Seminary
  • Ph.D., School of Theology at Claremont

Dr. Egertson was assistant professor of Religion at CLU from 1972 to 1995. He has also served as parish pastor for several Lutheran congregations in California and Nevada. From 1979 until 1992, he directed the Center for Theological Study at CLU. In February 1995, he began a six-year term as bishop of the Southern California West Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Dr. Egertson has taught in ADEP since its inception and continues as an adjunct professor where his students claim that he is one of the best teachers they have ever encountered.

A. Joseph Everson

Professor of Religion
  • B.A., St. Olaf College
  • B.D., Luther Northwestern Seminary
  • Th.M., Ph.D., Union Seminary

Dr. Everson has had a long-standing interest in the prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). He teaches courses in Hebrew language and in biblical studies. He also has interests in Jewish-Christian relations, reformation era studies and liberation theology. Professor Everson has traveled extensively in Europe and in the Middle East and has done postdoctoral study at Harvard Divinity School and at the Albright Institute in Jerusalem. He is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and serves on the advisory board for the National Workshop on Christian and Jewish Relations.

Kenneth Gardner

Associate Professor of Drama
  • B.A., State University of New York, Brockport
  • M.F.A., Ohio University

In addition to heading up the Children's Theater Program and teaching in the Adult Degree Program, Professor Gardner directs and writes original works for the Drama Department. His Mark Twain and The Ghost at the Stagecoach Inn, based on folklore of the Conejo, was a semifinalist in a national playwriting contest. Recent productions he has directed include Ohio, Godspell and Romeo and Juliet. Professor Gardner has also directed equity waiver theater in Hollywood, produced a television show and has had two television scripts optioned. He teaches Perspectives of Theater in the Adult Degree Program.

Bruce Gillies

Assistant Professor of Business and Director of ADEP
  • B.A., University of the State of New York
  • M.S., M.A., United States International University
  • Psy.D., Alliant International University

Dr. Gillies joins the ADEP staff after a varied career in Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and private industry. Dr. Gillies has extensive experience as a university professor, administrator, and leader. He has also served in the U.S. navy and retired after 21 years. In addition, he has worked at Webster University, Park University, United States International University, Crichton College, University of Laverne, and Central Texas College. He has lived in a variety of countries including Venezuela, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, and Bahrain. In addition to directing the Adult Degree Evening Program, Dr. Gillies teaches Business Statistics, Business Ethics, Organizational Development, and Organization Theory courses in the MBA, ADEP, and undergraduate business programs.

Herbert E. Gooch III

Associate Professor of Political Science
  • B.A., University of California, Berkeley
  • M.B.A., M.A., Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles

Dr. Gooch holds academic degrees in four areas: history, business management, international relations and political science. A fluent speaker of Spanish and French, he has worked in schools both in Mexico and France. In addition to his broad academic background, he brings to the classroom a wealth of expertise gleaned from a career as a business officer and consultant in Paris and as executive vice president of a bilingual education research group which he founded. Experienced in political campaign management in California and Nevada, Dr. Gooch has also written a documentary on the space shuttle program for NASA and many articles on topics including civil-military relations in Latin America. He directs the Master of Public Administration Program and is involved in the International Studies Program. Dr. Gooch teaches history and political science courses in the Adult Degree Program.

Sandra K. Grunewald

Lecturer in Business Administration
  • B.A., Augsburg College
  • Graduate, Ventura Police Academy
  • M.B.A., California Lutheran University
  • C.P.A.

As a former police officer, vocational business college owner/administrator and now partner in the CPA firm, Cagianut and Grunewald, Sandra Grunewald brings to the classroom a wide variety of hands-on experience. Students find this extra dimension, not only interesting but informative. Although she is a business entrepreneur, her heart has always been in the classroom. Grunewald has been teaching business and accounting subjects to adults on a part-time basis for more than 20 years.

Ronald E. Hagler

Professor of Business and Director of MBA Program
  • B.A., Southern Illinois University
  • M.B.A., George Washington University
  • Ed.D., University of Southern California

Dr. Hagler is the director of the MBA program at California Lutheran University. He previously taught at UCLA and for five years at California Lutheran University. Courses taught by Dr. Hagler are Human Resource Management, Consulting to Small Business, Principles of Management, Organizational Behavior and Organizational Design. Dr. Hagler was the director of administration for Deloitte & Touche for seven years and the principal administrator for a law firm for four years. He directed the formalization of policy in the areas of finance, human resources, compensation management and general administration.

Timothy Hengst

Associate Professor of Multimedia
  • B.A., California Lutheran University
  • M.A., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

In the first year as a member of the CLU faculty, Professor Hengst was named Chair of the Multimedia Department. After receiving his graduate degree in medical illustration, he joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University in 1977. In 1978 he was the first recipient of the CLU Alumni Association's Career Achievement Award. Since returning to the Conejo Valley, Hengst has been an active member of the Kiwanis Club of Thousand Oaks and serves on the Board of Directors for the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival.

Joe Huggins

Senior Lecturer in Business Administration
  • B.A., M.A., M.B.A., New York University

Professor Huggins brings more than 20 years of experience in practical management of marketing, planning, analysis and operations activities. This expertise, coupled with his energy and creativity, makes his Principles of Management class an exciting place to learn.

Greggory J Hutchins

Lecturer in Business Administration
  • B.S., California State University, Northridge
  • M.S., Golden State University

Greg Hutchins is a tax partner in the local offices of Holthouse Carlin and Van Trigt. His professional experience began with the tax department of KPMG Peat Marwick, where he worked for nine years. In addition to his client responsibilities, Hutchins is recruiting director for his firm. He is also active with charitable organizations including the American Lung Association of Ventura County and a local chapter of the YMCA.

Edward H. Julius

Professor of Business Administration
  • B.A., Rutgers University
  • M.S., University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Economics
  • C.P.A., State of Illinois

Professor Julius directs the Accounting Program at CLU and teaches all levels of accounting in the Adult Degree Program. Ranked by students as one of the best instructors in the program, Professor Julius has published study guides, test banks and instructor handbooks to accompany accounting texts, as well as six highly regarded crossword puzzle books for Bantam. Recently, he completed a book on rapid calculation, published by Wiley. His biography has appeared in three versions of Who's Who, and he is a longtime member of Mensa.

Ara Khanjian

Lecturer in Business Administration
  • B.A., University of British Columbia
  • M.A., Queen's University
  • Ph.D., New School for Social Research

Dr. Khanjian taught economics at many educational institutions including St. John's New York and Hofstra Universities. During the past five years he has been teaching full time at Ventura College. His fields of research interest include public finance and monetary policy. In 1991 he worked at the Economic Institute of the Ministry of Economy in Armenia, where he reviewed draft laws, such as income tax law. He is a member of the American Economic Association and many other economic associations.

Myungsook Klassen

Assistant Professor in Computer Science
  • B.S., Sogang University, Seoul Korea
  • M.S., Ohio State University
  • Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

Dr. Klassen specializes in Computer Engineering & Science with an emphasis on Pattern recognition, Artificial Intelligence, Neural Networks, Software Engineering, 3D graphics in Multimedia, and Data Base. Formerly an associate professor of Computer Science at Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan and Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. In addition to her research records and teaching skills, she has several years of experience in the industry where she worked as a programmer and systems analyst in Columbus, Ohio. Since joining CLU she has redesigned several courses curricula and will continue to design curriculum to reflect the fast changing computer field.

Anna Kwong

Lecturer in Business Administration
  • MBA, California Lutheran University
  • Ph.D., Lasalle University, Louisiana

Professor Kwong has been a lecturer in all three business programs at CLU, traditional undergraduate, ADEP, and MBA. Her expertise, coupled with her energy makes her lectures a successful learning experience.

David Marcey

Professor of Biology
  • B.A., College of Wooster
  • Ph.D., University of Utah

Dr. Marcey's research and teaching interests lie in developmental genetics and molecular evolution. His research focuses on the molecular instructions that teach cells how to participate in the construction of multicellular organisms. His pedagogical efforts include enriching science education by engaging students in collaborative research using web-based software to create interactive, digital explorations of structure/function relationships of macromolecules. He has consulted widely on the use of information technology in higher education. Before joining the CLU faculty as Fletcher Jones Professor of Development Biology in 1999, he taught and conducted research at Kenyon College.

Charles Maxey

Professor of Management and Dean of the School of Business
  • B.A., M.A., PhD., University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana

Dr. Maxey teaches courses in strategic management, human resources and organizational behavior. An author and co-author of numerous academic articles, he is also active as a business and litigation consultant and labor arbitrator. His previous appointments were at Northwestern University, Loyola University of Chicago and the University of Southern California, where he also served as senior associate dean of the Graduate School of Business immediately prior to joining CLU's faculty. Dr. Maxey also served as visiting professor of management at the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration in Bangkok, Thailand.

Kevin McVerry

Lecturer in Business Administration
  • B.A., California State University, Northridge
  • J.D., Catholic University

Kevin McVerry's business law class reflects his 18 years of practice as a trial attorney. He draws on his experience with business litigation, particularly employment law and worker's compensation cases, to add a "real world" dimension to the variety of legal topics covered in Business Law.

Bernard W. Merkle

Senior Lecturer in Management Information Systems
  • B.S.E.E., Newark College of Engineering
  • M.S.E.E., Syracuse University
  • M.B.A., George Washington University

Mr. Merkle retired from IBM Corp in 1987, after more than 26 years in hardware and systems design, and project management. He subsequently worked more than six years as a program and staff consultant at Unisys Corp. Mr. Merkle has taught classes in both the School of Business and ADEP. He also is an associate with Davis & Dean Inc., a global education firm, which provides Compressed Experience workshops to develop high performance leadership and management teams in organizations.

Chang-Shyh Peng

Associate Professor of Computer Science
  • B.S., National Taiwan University
  • M.S., PhD., University of Texas, Dallas

Dr. Peng develops and teaches a wide spectrum of undergraduate and graduate level computer science courses. He also has considerable experience in working with business to develop curricular offerings that are responsive to the needs of the corporate community. Dr. Peng's interests include Local Area Network, data communication and networking, parallel processing, client/server development and graphical user interface. He has published numerous articles on network simulations and modeling, fuzzy network applications and design and analysis of algorithms.

Michaela Crawford Reaves

Assistant Professor of History
  • B.A., California Lutheran University
  • B.A., California Lutheran University
  • Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara

Professor Reaves teaches American History in ADEP and the traditional undergraduate program at CLU. She has also served as an instructor in history at Cal State Northridge. Dr. Reaves specializes in American history, with emphasis in socio-cultural history. Her Dissertation work was in the social organization of agrarian societies in California in the 1870's. She has published several articles and is currently working on a monograph, The Farmers' Revolt. Dr. Reaves teaches courses in U.S. social history, modern America and Civil War and Colonial-era history.

Craig Reinhart

Assistant Professor of Computer Science
  • B.S., California State University, Northridge
  • M.S., Ph.D., University of Southern California

Dr. Reinhart came to CLU from industry where he directed research in high-level visualization and image processing programs. The author of a number of articles and conference papers, Dr. Reinhart worked at Hughes Aircraft and Rockwell International Science Center before becoming the manager of a software development company where he patented a number of innovative processes.

Steven L. Rice

Lecturer in Business Law
  • B.A., University of California, Los Angeles
  • J.D., Southwestern University of Law

Steven Rice has been a practicing trail attorney for over 25 years. He taught paralegals at UCLA and business law at California State University at Northridge before coming to CLU in 1997. He brings to the classroom extensive litigation experience in both torts and contractual settings. Rice acts as a judge pro tem in in small claims court and is on the board of directors for the local Girl Scout Council.

Sigmar Schwarz

Professor of English
  • B.A., Augustana College
  • M.A., Ph.D., University of Southern California

Dr. Schwarz has been a member of CLU's English Department for more than 20 years. He specializes in non-Western and minority studies. Dr. Schwarz's Adult Degree Program courses have become extremely popular among students, due in a large part to a teaching style which encourages students to examine classical works in American literature in new ways and to incorporate their own experiences into their analyses. Professor Schwarz pursues research in romanticism and phenomenology and is active in professional organizations including the Modern Language Association and the National Council of Teachers of English.

Henry Talifer

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
  • B.A., University of California, Los Angeles
  • J.D., Santa Clara University
  • M.A., California State University, Northridge
  • Ph.D., University of Southern California

With degrees in political science, law and education, Dr. Talifer is one of the most versatile scholars among the Adult Degree Program faculty. He is an attorney in private practice whose love of teaching keeps drawing him back to the classroom. Dr. Talifer has taught foundations of education, law and philosophy courses at several colleges and universities in Southern California. Students in the Adult Degree Program find his Social Ethics course to be one of the most stimulating in the curriculum.

Edgar A. Terry

Senior Lecturer in Business Administration
  • B.S., M.B.A., California Lutheran University

Professor Terry's finance and management classes are both challenging and very practical. As part-owner of Terry Farms Inc. of Ventura, he is responsible for capital equipment purchasing, forecasting, crop management, cost accounting, payroll and personnel. He is currently the vice-chairman of the board of the Central Coast Federal Land Bank. This diversity of experience, combined with his academic training, contributes to the unique blend of theory and application found in his classroom.

Doug Thiel

Lecturer in Philosophy
  • B.A., University of Louisville, Kentucky
  • M.A., Unviersity of California, Santa Barbara

Doug Thiel has been instructing college philosophy courses since 1996. He has taught at Santa Barbara City College and currently teaches a variety of philosphy courses at both Moorpark College and Oxnard College. He was involved in Ventura County's first PACE Program (Program for an Accelerated College Education) at Oxnard College in 1999. Well versed in adult pedagogies, he has also developed distant learning components for some of the courses he instructs. He received the Wallace Stevens Award for Excellence in Teaching as a part-time instructor (Oxnard College) in 2005. Doug Thiel began teaching Social Ethics at CLU in 2005 and has also taught a class in Value and Technology.

Dave E. Tofanelli

Lecturer in Business Administration
  • B.S., Our Lady of the Lake University
  • M.B.A., Golden Gate University
  • M.S., University of Denver
  • Post Graduate Fellowship, Air Force Institute of Technology

A senior executive with over 25 years experience in originating, leading, implementing, and supporting projects with global impact, Mr. Tofanelli provides students with a unique viewpoint of the corporate world. He has held significant senior management positions with large health plans and regional health care systems and has significant experience within the federal government. He is also the author of numerous articles on leadership, communications theory and health care policy and is an invited guest speaker at numerous professional conferences.

Rod Weissler

Lecturer in Economics
  • A.B., University of Southern California
  • A.M., University of Pennsylvania

Mr. Weissler began his career as an economist working in the Savings and Loan industry. After spending three years in the up-and-down financial services industry, he decided to enter the "more stable" aerospace industry. For the last nine years, Mr. Weissler worked at Douglas Aircraft Co. where his chief responsibility was to coordinate the annual passenger traffic forecast. In October 1994, Mr. Weissler began his new career as a transfer pricing economist for the IRS. Mr. Weissler taught courses in Managerial Economics at Cal State Long Beach before coming to CLU in 1992, where he has been teaching introductory courses in macroeconomics and microeconomics in ADEP.

Paul Williams

Associate Professor of Business Administration
  • B.S., Old Dominion University
  • M.B.A., Washington University
  • Ph.D., Claremont Graduate School

Dr. Williams' courses focus on finance and strategy and his research efforts are directed to the financial performance and capital structure criteria in corporations and strategic finance as management tool. Dr. Williams spent 20 years with Atlantic Richfield Co. in various capacities including sales management, strategic planning and analysis and finance and traveled to Asia and Europe to oversee ARCO's joint venture interests. He currently consults in the areas of strategic planning and investments.