The College of Health and Human Services is proud to welcome its nine newest faculty to the college, each of whom bring a wealth of knowledge, expertise and passion of their field of study to the 4,700+ students in the college.

Dr. Neelam Chanda, an associate professor in the School of Nursing, has a broad range of experience teaching psychiatric nursing, research methods (working directly with students) and course development and evaluation. Her focus area involves quantitative research methods including tool development. While at the University, she plans to teach the theoretical foundations of nursing practice and psychosocial nursing.

Dr. Travis Cronin, an assistant professor in the Department of Social Work Education, is a licensed clinical social worker in Idaho and has taught in the area of diversity and oppression and advanced social work practice with child welfare families. His research interests include adolescent and youth development, black lives, bystanding and bullying, child welfare, diversity and oppression and social work pedagogy.

Dr. Kerry Dunn, an assistant professor in the Department of Social Work Education, has over 20 years of counseling, advocacy, and research experience in a variety of social work settings, including foster care, education, and criminal and juvenile justice. Her research interests include prison activism, capital punishment, participatory and qualitative research methods, community-university partnership and interprofessional education.

Dr. Lynn Jakobs, an assistant professor in the School of Nursing, is a family nurse practitioner with nearly 20 years of experience practicing in a remote community in northern California. Her research interests include remote rural health care, rural populations and respiratory illnesses in farm workers.

Dr. Tanisha Garcia, an assistant professor in the Department of Public Health, has more than 15 years of professional experience in various positions within health care, ranging from outpatient facilities to corporate governance. Her research interests include women’s health, leadership styles and theories, change management, organizational transformation and health care information management.

Dr. Rohan Jadhav, an assistant professor in the Department of Public Health, focuses on quantitative methods and implementation science to solve public health problems. His research interests include occupational epidemiology, agricultural injury and health and environmental health.

Dr. Sujatha Shanmugasundaram, an associate professor in the School of Nursing, has extensive experience in nursing, having worked in several countries, such as India and Australia. She has served 20 years in the academic and clinical setting. Her research interests include palliative care, dementia, caregiver burden, simulation and cultural issues.

Dr. Kristen Snynam, an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology, is a certified strength and conditioning specialist with distinction from the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Her research interests include the evaluation of perceptual, metabolic, and neuromuscular (electromyographic and mechanomyographic) responses during dynamic exercise, neuromuscular adaptations as a result of strength training in young and older adult populations and youth athlete development.

Dr. Brandon Taylor, an assistant professor in the Department of Recreation Administration, has spent more than 14 years working in the community recreation setting within the Central Valley and serves as the coordinator of Community Recreation and Youth Services emphasis within the Recreation Administration Department. His research interests include perceptions of government funded recreational services, management of municipal leisure services, organizational development and leadership, as well as leisure education.

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The College of Health and Human Services also welcomes its newest staff members, including Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic Assistant, Pakou Thao (Communicative Sciences and Deaf Studies) and Administrative Support Assistant/Graduate Admissions Secretary, Marissa Bourbon (Social Work).