Dr. Amanda Morita is a nonprofit management leader currently working in the field of emergency management and disaster relief, where her primary focus is on building and training a volunteer disaster workforce to meet the disaster needs of vulnerable communities throughout Los Angeles County and the greater Pacific Coast area. Her areas of expertise include nonprofit management, capacity building, workforce and leadership development, program assessment, development, and evaluation, community engagement, and coalition building. She has worked in nonprofit social change agencies for 20+ years and has a passion for building healthier communities and organizations.

Dr. Morita earned her PhD in Organizational Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Her research focuses on prosocial behaviors in nonprofit organizations, specifically around capacity building amongst volunteer workforces. When not teaching, she spends her time reading, frequenting LA’s many museums, volunteering for large disaster operations across the country, and honing her cooking and baking skills.