Doctoral Student Directory

Background

Leroy Gaines brings over 19 years of combined professional experience working in both urban public-school districts and non-profits paving the way for education reform. He believes all children deserve equal access to high-quality education and school leadership as a key lever in the transformation process required to put students on a path to college and career readiness. Leroy currently serves as the Network Superintendent for the Oakland Unified School District.

I research noncognitive constructs in K12 settings using computational psychometrics. Drawing on intensive, multi-modal data this research produces learning analytics offering individual-level insights and also, in aggregate, inform teaching and policy. This practice-embedded research foregrounds the needs of teachers and students, with a critical SES perspective.

Background

Peter Lê (he/him) was born and raised in East Oakland. He possesses over 12 years of experience in K-12 and higher education. He has taught biology at the high school, community college, and university levels. In addition to his teaching experience, Peter has held roles in college and career counseling and school-based health.

Background

Julian comes from a family of undocumented immigrants and a bracero father. The youngest and only US born member of his family, he is a product of blue collar and racially diverse East Oakland. Since 2016, Julian has served as Executive Director of Centers for Educational Equity and Excellence (CE3), helping to lead a cluster of over ten programs that specialize in serving the more than 13,000 non-traditional and historically marginalized students at Berkeley.

Kait Murray is an educator and researcher of community leadership whose work focuses on transforming agricultural and environmental education, both in and outside of schools. She is broadly interested in how people with marginalized sexualities and genders – particularly members of the LGBTQ community – navigate and change educational systems. She researches the complex relationships between individuals and these educational spaces: how they create them, experience them, resist them, disrupt them, uphold them, transform them.

Background

Izamar Ortiz-González is a daughter of immigrant parents. This experience thought her to navigate multiple narratives at school and at home. Bridging the gap between these narratives has been her goal throughout her life as a teacher, organizer and student.

Anna holds a Bachelor’s in Environmental Science from the University of Arizona. In 2019, she completed her Master’s in Language Teaching from the Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia in Tunja, Colombia. Her work in Colombia has focused on educational equity for women and girls in rural areas, as well as gender and academic writing in the public university space. As the former editorial assistant of Enletawa Journal, Anna sought to make academic journals more inclusive of voices historically silenced in academia. Currently, she is in the Ph.D.

EDUCATIONAL HISTORY

Bachelor of Arts, University of California, Merced, 2022

GPA: 3.97, Major: Sociology, Minors: Natural Sciences Education and Psychology

RESEARCH INTERESTS/AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Science Education, Educational Equity, Gender, Race, & Ethnicity, Formative Assessment Tools

EXPERIENCE

PROFESSIONAL EXPIERENCE

Middle School Math Tutor, CalTeach - Fall 2021

Background

Marney Randle (she/her) has a professional background that is a “student affairs zigzag” with multiple touch points in higher education. She has navigated various university environments, whether it’s working on campus or traveling the world via the Semester at Sea program. As a consultant and Certified Professional Coach, Marney works with clients one-on-one and has been invited to speak in various settings on topics surrounding inclusion, personal & professional development, and wellness.

Katrina is a National Board Certified Teacher with over 15 years of teaching experience in urban secondary classrooms. She began her career at June Jordan School for Equity, in San Francisco, where she also worked as an administrator. Katrina then worked at her former high school, Jesse M. Bethel High School, in Vallejo, where she spent six years as the Lead Teacher of the Law Academy. Under her leadership, the Law Academy earned the Diversity Champion Award from California LAW.

I am interested in working with underrepresented populations to understand the processes that enhance (or hinder) their opportunities to access higher education. I am also interested in studying the benefits of drama and poetry in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms for language acquisition and writing.

Background

Raised and currently residing in Fairfield, CA. Is excited to be an Aggie for the third time having completed a B.S. in Biological Sciences with an emphasis in Cellular & Molecular Biology as a first-gen college student and then continued to receive teaching credentials and M.A. in Education.

With a small teacher cohort, created a dual-enrollment high school program founded in 2014 where he continues to teach high school Biology, Chemistry, and a Senior Project capstone course.