Cheri Gurse, PhD, is both a scholar and activist. Her doctoral research explored US Jewish millennial women’s social justice activism, reinvigorating questions about “who is a Jew” and the relationship between Jewishness and social justice. Some of the courses Cheri has taught since joining the BA team at Antioch and before include business ethics and social responsibility, community psychology and social change, sociology from a global perspective, core competencies for learning, and explorations of race, gender, sexual orientations, and whiteness. Her community activism helps to bring about increased understanding between people who hold oppositional perspectives on socio-cultural values and concerns, and she is a strong believer in poet/author Adrienne Rich’s compelling question, “If not with Others, then how?”

Dr. Gurse earned her PhD in Human Development from Fielding Graduate University, and her master’s degree in Confluent Education from UCSB. Before joining the faculty at Antioch University, Dr. Gurse taught sociology and humanities courses for Argosy University and enjoyed her consulting practice in racial justice, group facilitation, and leadership development. She previously served as the first coordinator of Rape Prevention Education at UCSB from the late 1970s to 1994, and the first alumni/ae director for Fielding Graduate University. Some of the conferences she has presented at are the National  Conference on Race & Ethnicity, the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and the Social Justice Institute for the Association of Student Personnel Advisors, and she has received awards for outstanding student affairs leadership (UCSB), community bridge-building (Santa Barbara Humanitarian Award), Volunteer of the Year (group award) from the SB Mental Wellness Center, and for being a Shining Star for the SB Rape Crisis Center.