About our faculty

Anthony C. Lopez, Ph.D.

Program Leader

Anthony Lopez is assistant professor of international relations and political psychology at WSU Vancouver. A member of the faculty since 2012, he studies revenge, the uses of force, moral psychology, sex differences in aggression, and offense/defense distinctions in war. Lopez teaches Introduction to International Politics, Nation States and Global Challenges, Psychology of War, U.S. National Security, American Foreign Policy, Political Psychology, Special Topics in American Foreign & Defense Policy, and Seminar in International Political Economy.

Lopez received his bachelor’s degree from Pitzer College, his master’s degree from the University of Denver’s Korbel School of International Studies, and his Ph.D. in political science from Brown University. He has also received training as a research affiliate with the Center for Evolutionary Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Lopez has numerous peer-reviewed articles and publications, including “The Evolution of War: Theory and Controversy,” published in 2016 in International Theory, and “Psychology and Constructivism: Uneasy Bedfellows?” in “Psychology and Constructivism in International Relations: An Ideational Alliance.”

Phone: 360-546-9284
Office: Multimedia (VMMC) 202X
Email: anthony.c.lopez@wsu.edu


Laurie A. Drapela, Ph.D.

Laurie Drapela is an associate professor of criminal justice. She joined WSU in 2001. Her research focuses on criminal justice issues, including mental health, substance abuse, juvenile offenses and community correctional programs. Her teaching assignments have included Introduction to Criminal Justice, Crime Control Policies, Juvenile Justice and Corrections, Crime and Justice in the Movies, Violence Towards Women, Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Process and Institutions, Quantitative Methods, and Introduction to Research Methods in Political Science.

Drapela earned a Ph.D. in sociology and criminal justice, a master’s degree in sociology and a B.A., all at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a member of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, the American Society of Criminology, and the Pacific Area Sociological Association. She has contributed chapters to several books about autism spectrum disorder, including “Do ‘Best Practices’ Exist for Youth who Have Autism Spectrum Disorder? Making the Case for Specific Responsivity Research among Youth with ASD in the Juvenile Justice System,” in D.L. Baker (Ed.), “Disability and U.S. Politics: Participation, Policy, and Controversy.” She also co-authored “Policy Awareness, Financial Hardship and Work Impact: Correlates of Negative Experiences with Health Care Providers and Health Care Insurers among Caregivers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” with Dana L. Baker.

Phone: 360-546-9485
Office: Classroom (VCLS) 208N
Email: ldrapela@wsu.edu


Kathryn Dubois, Ph.D.

Kathryn DuBois is an associate professor of criminal justice. She joined WSU Vancouver in 2007. Her research on criminal justice focuses on domestic violence, sexual assault, alcohol and drug abuse, and indigenous and rural criminal justice issues. DuBois has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminal justice from New Mexico State University, and a Ph.D. in criminology from Simon Frasier University in British Columbia. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in alcohol studies at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health.

DuBois was an investigator in providing technical assistance to the Alaska Statewide Violence Against Women Survey, which was funded by the Alaska Department of Public Safety through the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2010, and the principal investigator for a study of literature and extant research and evaluation in the area of alcohol and substance use and abuse in American Indian and Alaska Native communities, which was funded by the National Institute of Justice. She has published articles in Criminal Justice Policy Review, the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management. DuBois’s publications have been featured in the United States and Canada, at conferences for the American Society of Criminology, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and the Western Social Science Association.

Phone: 360-546-9255
Office: Classroom (VCLS) 208B
Email: kathryn.dubois@wsu.edu


Susan Finley, Ph.D.

Susan Finley is a professor in the College of Education and affiliate faculty in Public Affairs in the College of Arts & Sciences and in the Ph.D. program in Prevention Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Human, and Natural Sciences. She joined WSU Vancouver in 2001. Her primary teaching responsibility lies in research methods and social justice courses.

Finley bases her pedagogy and inquiry in arts-based approaches to understanding social and cultural issues, policies and practices. She is an activist who has implemented community-based educational efforts with people living in tent communities, street youths, and economically poor children and their families. She is also an artist, poet and playwright, and the author of more than 50 scholarly articles and book chapters. Her research has been featured in more than 100 presentations at professional research meetings, including the American Educational Research Association and the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. She designed and directs the At Home At School Community Education effort, which has developed major curricular innovations for pre-K—12 students. Finley received her Ph.D. in education and her bachelor’s degree in philosophy and English language and literature from the University of Michigan.

Phone: 360-546-9649
Office: Undergraduate (VUB) 328
Email: finley@wsu.edu


Carolyn Long, Ph.D.

Carolyn Long is the Sam Reed Distinguished Professor in Civic Education and Public Civility and an associate professor in the School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs. Her research interests focus on American institutions, public law and American public policy. She is the author of two books, “Religious Freedom and Indian Rights: The Case of Oregon v. Smith” and “Mapp v. Ohio: Guarding against Unreasonable Searches and Seizures.” She is currently working on a book on “Newdow v. U.S. Congress: The Pledge and the Ninth Circuit,” for the University Press of Kansas.

Long was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Ljubljana School of Social Sciences in 2009/2010. She has taught the American Constitution, Civil Liberties, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, the Judicial Process, Administrative Jurisprudence, Congressional Politics, Public Policy and American Institutions at WSU Vancouver since 1995. Long received her B.A. with majors in political science and rhetoric and communication from the University of Oregon in 1989 and her Ph.D. in political science from Rutgers University in 1997.

Phone: 360-546-9043
Office: Multimedia (VMMC) 102A
Email: coelong@wsu.edu


Alair MacLean, Ph.D.

Alair MacLean is an associate professor of sociology. She joined WSU Vancouver in 2006, and was a visiting scholar at Observatoire Sociologique du Changement in Paris, France, in 2012/2013. Her research focuses broadly on social inequality, including the question of how wars affect people's lives, particularly the effects of military service and combat exposure on work and health.

MacLean has a bachelor’s degree from Reed College, and a Master of Science and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her articles include “Coming Home: Attitudes toward U.S. Veterans returning from Iraq” in the journal Social Problems, and the chapter “A Matter of Life and Death: Military Service and Health” in “Life-Course Perspectives on Military Service.”

Phone: 360-546-9177
Office: Multimedia (VMMC) 202H
Email: alair.maclean@wsu.edu


Mark Stephan, Ph.D.

Mark Stephan’s research is in the area of environmental governance, with a recent focus on climate change policies at the subnational level. He also has a growing interest in urban governance. He received his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Ph.D. in political science from Princeton University. In 2011, he co-authored an award-winning book entitled, “Coming Clean: Information Disclosure and Environmental Decision-Making” (MIT Press). He teaches broadly in American politics and has been a media source for news organizations including, Oregon Public Broadcasting, KOIN, The Columbian and The Oregonian.

Phone: 360-546-9177
Office: Classroom (VCLS) 208V
Email: stephanm@wsu.edu


Paul Thiers, Ph.D.

Paul Thiers is an associate professor of political science. He joined WSU Vancouver in 1999. His research focuses on climate change and energy policy and politics, economic policy, China and, more broadly, international affairs. He teaches courses related to environmental policy and, comparative politics. Thiers has a master’s degree in social science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Oregon. He was also a research fellow at the Center for Integrated Agricultural Development at the China Agricultural University. He travels to China regularly and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. Thiers co-authored “Examining land use planning outcomes in the Portland, OR-Vancouver, WA (USA) metropolitan area under differing planning regimes,” in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning, and “Pacific Northwest Dams and the Unintended Consequences of Public Policy,” in “Science and Politics: An A to Z Guide to Issues and Controversies.”

Phone: 360-546-9466
Office: Multimedia (VMMC) 102S
Email: pthiers@wsu.edu


Thomas M. Tripp, Ph.D.

Thomas Tripp is a professor in management at WSU Vancouver, as well as the associate dean of undergraduate programs for the Carson College of Business at WSU. Tripp’s research focuses on customer service, organizational dynamics and leadership, social media management, decision-making and organizational ethics. He teaches Leadership Skills, Negotiations, Smart Decision-Making, Organizational Behavior, Environmental Ethics, and Applied Statistics. Tripp received the Students' Award for Teaching Excellence from WSU Vancouver students in 2015. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Phone: 360-546-9754
Office: Classroom (VCLS) 308E
Email: ttripp@wsu.edu