Lauren Coodley
Author/Editor and Professor of Psychology and History

Lauren Coodley began her career at Napa Valley College teaching psychology classes; later, she developed programs in overcoming math anxiety. Along with other colleagues, she created the Multicultural/gender studies requirement and revised the American women's history and California history courses she had created to meet the requirement.

In l996, she received a second M.A. from Sonoma State University, this time in history. She also received two grants from the California Council for the Humanities and from the Lilly Library to further her research on Upton Sinclair. The Land of Orange Groves and Jails: Upton Sinclair's California, which she edited, was published as part of the California Legacy series by Santa Clara University and Heyday Books.

Napa: the Transformation of an American Town (Arcadia Publishing) is based on archival photographs and original interviews conducted by Professor Coodley and her students. Coodley was awarded the McPherson Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2003 and elected as Chair of the Social Sciences Division 2004.

Her newest book, California: a Multicultural History in Documents was published by Prentice-Hall in 2008. She lists her children, her animals, and her archives as three of her passionate interests.

"California Thinkers" - California Studies Association