Tony Albano
Associate Professor
Dr. Tony Albano is an Associate Professor in the School of Education where he teaches courses in testing, assessment, and data science. His research aims broadly to improve teaching and learning via effective educational and psychological measurement, including through improvements in psychometric methods for scaling and modeling assessment results, and through enhanced accessibility in test design and implementation. Dr.
Brenda Aldama Garcia
ETS Program Advisor, College Opportunity Programs
Rebecca Ambrose
Professor and Department Chair
After teaching middle school math for ten years, I decided to pursue a PhD to get a fresh perspective on the issues I observed every day in my classroom and thought that maybe I could help develop remedies that would help other teachers, as well.
Sarah Angulo
Community Education and Outreach Specialist, Center for Community and Citizen Science
Steven Athanases
Professor and Dolly and David Fiddyment Chair in Teacher Education
Steven Athanases is a Professor in the School of Education at UC Davis.
Principal Investigator, Teachers as Learners Project, James S. McDonnell Foundation, New Teachers Learning Disciplined Improvisation for Meaningful Talk in Diverse Classrooms, 2018-2023.
Director of Research, Center for Shakespeare in Diverse Classrooms, UC Davis, in partnership with Globe Education, Shakespeare’s Globe, London (Patrick Spottiswoode, Director). 2018-
Heidi Ballard
Professor and Chancellor’s Fellow
Heidi Ballard is the Founder and Faculty Director of the Center for Community and Citizen Science. You can find more information about her past and current projects, and sign up for occasional updates at the Center’s website.
Jared Beldon
GEAR UP Program Advisor, College Opportunity Programs
Megan Bettis
Lecturer/Supervisor, Science Teacher Credential and Program Director, Young Scholars Program
Samuel Blanco III
Associate Director, Pre-College TRIO Programs, College Opportunity Programs
M. Yianella Blanco
Assistant Professor
Dr. Yianella Blanco is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education. Her research interests focus on the teaching and learning of Latine/x histories and experiences, particularly those of Central America(ns) and how those intersect with American empire. Dr. Blanco’s research draws from community-based and participatory action research methods.
Cynthia Carter Ching
Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Programs
Research Interests
Child Development; Collaborative Learning; Gender and technology; Learning in Informal Settings; Qualitative Methodology; Technology and identity
Damian Chapman
Assistant Dean, Finance, Administration and Strategy Development
Susanna Cooper
Executive Director, Wheelhouse
Before joining Wheelhouse, Ms. Cooper served as an independent consultant and as longtime advisor on pre-K-to-14 education issues for the leader of the California State Senate. In that role, she shaped and shepherded the Pro Tem’s education agenda, provided counsel on education budget matters, and led multi-year campaigns to increase quality pre-kindergarten opportunities for low-income children, reduce the number of high school dropouts, and strengthen high school-post-secondary pathways.
Marcela G. Cuellar
Associate Professor
Marcela Cuellar joined the School of Education in July 2014. She received her doctorate in Higher Education and Organizational Change at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. Her research examines access and equity in higher education, Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and emerging HSIs, and Latinx student success. More specifically, Dr. Cuellar employs quantitative and qualitative methods to explore Latinx students’ experiences at HSIs and emerging HSIs and how they are empowered as a result of their educational experiences during college and beyond.
Darnel Degand
Assistant Professor
Darnel Degand joined the School of Education as an assistant professor in July 2017. He studies the various ways media and society influence the development of social success skills by exploring the social processes that exist within media production environments and media consumption experiences. His research also involves the design and development of educational media products and experiences.
Rachel Ellis
ETS Shasta Outreach Advisor, College Opportunity Programs
Kerry A. Enright
Associate Professor
I research the relationship between Latinx students’ everyday uses of language (English and Spanish) and their engagement in language and literacy practices in institutional settings (classrooms and professional work-study placements). Some schools identify bilingual adolescents as “limited” in their English proficiency even though they use sophisticated literacy repertoires outside of school; other learners are deemed ”fluent” in English but still struggle with the language and literacy demands of their academic coursework or workplace.
Nancy Erbstein
Associate Professor in Residence
My work focuses on how communities and regions produce and disrupt disparities in youth well-being, with emphasis on disparities associated with race/ethnicity, immigration, socio-economic status and geographic location. My interest in youth well-being situates my activity at the intersection of educational reform, public health, youth development and community development. I ground my work conceptually at the nexus of theories of development in social ecological contexts, critical human geographers’ analyses of space and place as socially produced, and critical race theory.
Claudia Escobar
Associate Director of Learning and Research, Wheelhouse
Dr. Claudia Escobar earned her Ph.D. in School Organization and Education Policy at the UC Davis School of Education in 2020. She has served as a graduate student researcher with the California Education Lab and UC Davis Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She is a former researcher and policy analyst for the UC Office of the President. She is the first in her family to obtain a bachelor’s and master’s degree and now a doctorate.
Tracy Falk
Undergraduate / Graduate Program Coordinator
Adriana Fernandez
Upward Bound Assistant Director, College Opportunity Programs
Elizabeth Zeiger Friedmann
Research Fellow, California Education Lab
Betsey Friedmann is a research fellow at Wheelhouse and the California Education Lab. She received her Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis in School Organization and Educational Policy from the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on issues related to college access and success, including financial aid and transfer pathways from community colleges.
Jennifer Gama
Assistant Director, College Opportunity Programs, Educational Talent Search
Kevin Gee
Associate Professor and Chancellor's Fellow
Fall 2022 Office Hours: Thursdays, 3-5pm (Zoom or in-person)
Office Hours Sign Ups on my Calendly
Chris Griesemer
Executive Director, Sacramento Area Science Project
Eva Guralnick
Director of Marketing and Communications
Eva Guralnick joined the UC Davis School of Education in June 2015 as the Director of Marketing and Communications. As the chief marketing officer for the School she manages all branding and outreach efforts.
Mercades Harris
West Valley High School Advisor, College Opportunity Programs
Cassandra M.D. Hart
Associate Professor
Cassandra Hart is an associate professor of education policy. She evaluates the effects of school, state and national education programs, policies, and practices on overall student achievement, and on the equity of student outcomes. Hart’s work has focused on online education in both K-12 schools and community colleges, school choice programs, school accountability policies, and effects on students of exposure to demographically similar teachers.
Peggy Harte
Youth Education Program Manager, Center for Community and Citizen Science
Peggy Harte develops citizen science curriculum as well as professional learning opportunities for K-12 educators, engaging with students and teachers across a variety of projects ongoing at the Center for Community and Citizen Science. She is a former classroom teacher and elementary science specialist with over 20 years of experience.
LaToya Hervey
Program Advisor, College Opportunity Programs, Educational Talent Search
Jennifer Higgs
Assistant Professor
Jennifer Higgs is an Assistant Professor of Learning and Mind Sciences and Language, Literacy, and Culture. Drawing from sociocultural learning theories and employing methodologies such as design-based research and survey research, she investigates young people’s and teachers’ sense-making of digital tools and ecologies that invite new forms of reading, writing, and participation; support structures that may help teachers facilitate equitable uses and understandings of digital technologies; and the spread and scale of educational innovations in our advanced digital age. Dr.
Sylvia Hill
Program Assistant, Upward Bound/ETS Shasta, College Opportunity Programs
Pauline Holmes
Lecturer/Supervisor, English Credential
Education
Ph.D., Education – University of California Davis
Kim Holsberry
Supervisor, Multiple Subject Credential
Education
- CLAD (2004)
- Certificated Early Literacy Group Teacher, CSU Bernardino (1997)
- Certificated Reading Recovery Teacher, CSU Bernardino (1994)
- B.A.
Chelsey Hoshor
ETS Shasta Outreach Advisor, College Opportunity Programs
Margarita Jimenez-Silva
Professor
Prof. Margarita Jimenez-Silva’s research focuses on preparing and supporting teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse learners, especially in addressing emergent bilinguals’ linguistic and academic content development. More specifically, her research strands include teacher education pedagogy and curriculum, educational policy, and family/community engagement. Her research has been published by journals such as Harvard Educational Review, Childhood Education, and the Journal of Research on Childhood Education.
Akemi Joe
Business Services Coordinator
Akemi Joe earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from UC Davis in 2014. She brings with her an extensive knowledge of the campus from her previous work at the School of Education Student Services, Office of the Chancellor and Provost, and Design and Construction Management.
Rae Johnsen
GEAR UP Program Coordinator, College Opportunity Program
Car Mun Kok
Director of College Opportunity Programs
Dr. Car Mun Kok joined the UC Davis School of Education in November 2021 as the Director of College Opportunity Programs, housed under the REEd Center. Car Mun provides leadership for the federally funded GEAR UP, Educational Talent Search and Upward Bound programs which serve middle and high school students throughout the Sacramento Valley and Northern California areas.
Michal Kurlaender
Chancellor’s Leadership Professor
Michal Kurlaender investigates students’ educational pathways, in particular K-12 and postsecondary alignment, and access to and success in higher education. She has expertise on alternative pathways to college and college readiness at both community colleges and four-year colleges and universities. In addition to working with national data, Kurlaender works closely with administrative data from all three of California’s public higher education sectors—the University of California, the California State University and the California Community College systems.
Lauren E. Lindstrom
Professor and Dean
Alyssa Macias
Upward Bound Academic Coordinator, College Opportunity Programs
Robin Martin
Director of Educational Research and Evaluation
Robin Martin joined the UC Davis School of Education in 2016 as the Director of Educational Research and Evaluation. Having served in both K-12 policy organizations and public school districts, Robin brings over 13 years of practiced experience in education policy, research, assessment, and program implementation and evaluation.
Lynn Martindale
Lecturer/Supervisor, Agricultural Credential
By appointment only
Education
EdD – Drexel University, Sacramento, CA – expected date of completion, 2014
M.S., Agriculture – California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo – 1990
Pupil Personal Service – Fresno Pacific University, Fresno, CA - 1995
Danny C. Martinez
Associate Professor and Chancellor's Fellow. Chair of the Graduate Group in Education
Danny C. Martinez is Associate Professor in the Language, Literacy, and Culture program area in the School of Education. His research explores the cultural and linguistic practices of Black and Latinx youth in literacy learning contexts, and teacher learning as it relates to leveraging youths’ rich communicative resources. His research is inspired by his experience as a literacy teacher in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Paco Martorell
Associate Professor
Francisco (Paco) Martorell joined the School as an assistant professor in July 2014. Martorell completed his PhD in economics at UC Berkeley. Prior to joining the School, he was an Economist at the RAND Corporation and was a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School since 2006. He has broad research interests in both higher education and K-12 policy. Current projects cover areas including developmental education in colleges, the effects of grade retention, the returns to for-profit colleges, the impacts of school facility investments, and community college tuition subsidies.
Sophia Mattingly
Lecturer
Education
University of California, Davis, CA
Ph.D. Education (Language, Literacy and Culture), Jun 2015
University of Kansas, KS
National Consortium for Teaching about Asia Summer study tour in
China, Jun 2010
• NCTA Summer institute for alumni designed to facilitate teaching and learning about East Asia in the K-12 curriculum via participation in a variety of hands-on experiences in Asia.
Susana Mayorga
Bilingual Coordinator–Spanish, Lecturer/Supervisor, Multiple Subject Credential
Ryan Meyer
Executive Director, Center for Community and Citizen Science
I direct the Center for Community and Citizen Science at the UC Davis School of Education. Our mission is to help scientists, communities, and citizens collaborate on science to address environmental problems as a part of civic life. Learn more and sign up for our mailing list here.
Elizabeth Montaño
Associate Professor of Teaching in Education, Chair of CANDEL
Education
Doctorate in Education: Educational Leadership for Social
Justice
Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles
California Single Subject Credential in English with CLAD
Certification
University of California, Berkeley (current)
M.A. in Education: Language, Literacy and Culture
University of California, Berkeley
B.A. in Political Science & Chicana and Chicano Studies
University of California, Los Angeles
Lola Muldrew
Associate Program Chair, Teacher Education
Education
Ph.D., Math Education, University of California,
Davis, December 2012
Dissertation Title: The Meaning of Adversity within
Traditional K-12 Math Classrooms in the United States from the
Perspective of African-American Individuals
Advisor: Dr. Rebecca Ambrose, School of Education
Master of Arts in Teaching Mathematics (M.A.T.), University of California, Davis, June 2007
Peter Mundy
Distinguished Professor of Education and Lisa Capps Chair in Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Education
There are seven million exceptional children with special needs in our American school system, such as children with autism spectrum development. They have the right to appropriate and comparable educational opportunities. Truly meeting the needs of these children requires a commitment to integrating advances in educational science, neuroscience, and social policy.
- Peter Mundy Vita
- Early Social Communication Scales Manual
- Autism and Joint Attention Book (Mundy, 2016)
- Joint Attention and Information Processing in ASD
- Joint Attention, Executive Process, & Self Regulation in Infants
- Reading Development Subgroups and ASD
- The Scope and Nature of Reading Comprehension in ASD
- Reading Fluency and Reading Comprehension in ASD
- Writing Development in ASD
- Joint Attention and Information Processing
- A virtual joy stick study of motivation in ASD
- A Virtual Public Speaking Task and Social attention in ASD
- Read more
Dr. Christina E. Murdoch
Executive Director, Center for Applied Policy in Education (CAP-Ed)
Education is all a matter of building bridges.
—Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man
Center for Applied Policy in Education (CAP-Ed)
Christina E. Murdoch serves as Executive Director of the Center for Applied Policy in Education within the UC Davis School of Education. In this role, Christina develops and directs professional learning programs for school district superintendents, principals and teachers including the following:
• Superintendents’ Executive Leadership Forum (SELF)
Faheemah N. Mustafaa
Assistant Professor
Dr. Faheemah N. Mustafaa joined the School of Education as an assistant professor in 2019. She is also a member of the Human Development Graduate Group, and faculty research affiliate with the Center for Poverty & Inequality Research. Prior to joining the School of Education faculty, she was a postdoctoral researcher in Social-Personality Psychology at University of California, Berkeley, and in Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Mustafaa earned her Ph.D.
Cynthia M. Passmore
Professor and Interim Chair, Teacher Education
Research Interests
Science Education; Secondary Education
Education
Ph.D., Curriculum and Instruction – University of Wisconsin, Madison – 2002
Broadcast, Print or Electronic Media
modelbasedbiology.com
modelinglivingearthbiology.org
Alexis Patterson Williams
Associate Professor
Alexis Patterson Williams, Ph.D., joined the School of Education in July 2015 as an Assistant Professor in science education. She is currently a CAMPOS Faculty Scholar and is excited to work with her cohort to develop a research center that focuses on increasing the participation of women of color in STEM related fields.
Taylor Pinnell
ETS Shasta Outreach Advisor, College Opportunity Programs
Patricia D. Quijada
Associate Professor
Education
Ph.D., Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin –
Madison
Emphasis: Human Development Minor: Youth Studies and
Multicultural Education
Ed.M., Youth Development: Prevention Science and Practice
Harvard University, Graduate School of Education
Ed.M., Counseling Processes
Harvard University, Graduate School of Education
Multiple Subject, Elementary Credential
University of San Diego
B.A. and B.S. Political Science and Sociology
University of California at Riverside
Carolynn Ranch
Supervisor, Social Science Credential
Education
- Secondary Teaching Credentials, Social Science and English - Sonoma State University, 1979
- B.A., Sociology – UC Santa Cruz, 1971
Notable Experience
- Area 3 History and Cultures Project: 2003-2010
Interests
- Gardening
- Environmentalism
- Literature
- Music
- Travel
- Entertaining
Sherrie Reed
Executive Director, California Education Lab
Sherrie Reed serves as Executive Director for California Education Lab. In this role, Sherrie is managing and directing the research efforts of numerous federal and foundation grants and supporting the faculty Principal Investigators. These projects represent unprecedented collaboration among the primary public education segments in the state of California, including formal partnership between the University of California, Davis and the California Department of Education, and collaboration with the California State University Chancellor’s Off
Mary M. Reid
Director of Student Support, Outreach, Recruitment and Student Experience
Gloria M. Rodriguez
Professor
Office hours: Winter and Spring Quarters 2020 — By Appointment Only
Gloria M. Rodriguez’s current research explores notions of educational investment that reflect efforts to build upon community strengths in order to address community needs within and beyond educational settings. Dr. Rodriguez also engages in research that focuses on the political economic conditions and educational trajectories of Chicana/o-Latina/o communities, other communities of color, and low-income populations in the U.S.
Bree Rodriguez
PhD/MA Graduate Program Coordinator
Allain Rogers
Science Instructor, Upward Bound, College Opportunity Programs
Heather Rose
Associate Professor
Office hours: By appointment. Room 125 SOEB.
Research Interests
Economics of education; Education Policy and Governance; Quantitative methods; School finance
Alicia Rusoja
Assistant Professor
Dr. Alicia Rusoja’s interdisciplinary research lies at the intersection of Latinx/Chicanx studies, critical education/critical literacy studies, and university-community/research-practice partnerships. As a Latina immigrant and activist-scholar, she employs participatory and critical community-based qualitative research methodologies to understand the immigrant rights organizing of Latinx immigrant youth, adults and families.
Shaima A. Shafii
External Relations and Development Program Manager
Shaima Shafii joined the School of Education as the Development and External Relations Assistant on January 16, 2018. She is responsible for a wide range of coordinative and administrative duties, as well as working with the marketing and communications team at the School of Education.
Nicole Sparapani
Associate Professor
Nicole Sparapani, Ph.D., is an associate professor within the School of Education and the MIND Institute. Dr. Sparapani’s background in speech-language pathology, developmental psychology, and education has informed her research agenda, which focuses on the dynamic and transactional interplay between children and their classroom environment. The overarching goal of her research agenda is to improve the educational experiences and outcomes of learners with complex learning needs and autism spectrum disorder (hereafter referred to as autism).
Hilary Strain
Business Operations and Communications Coordinator, Wheelhouse
Lisa Sullivan
Lecturer/Supervisor, Multiple Subject Credential
Dr. Lisa Sullivan brings a range of skills and experience to her work in Teacher Education. Lisa worked as a classroom teacher in East Los Angeles and in Northern California before obtaining her doctorate from UC Davis in Learning and Mind Sciences. She has worked extensively with both classroom teachers and higher education faculty to improve teaching and learning. Lisa has conducted over twenty program evaluations for K-12 and university based education initiatives. She has expertise in the area of special education, having worked on a national implementation grant to support general education teachers to implement best practices for students with autism. Lisa has also taught both credential and Masters students at UC Davis, Sacramento State University and Loyola Marymount University. Her dissertation research examined the role of attention in learning and school readiness for preschool children. Her main area of interest is in working with educators to translate research into practice that will improve outcomes for all students.
Education
- Ph.D. in Learning and Mind Sciences, University of California, Davis, 2010
- M.A. in Educational Psychology, University of California, Davis, 2006
- B.A. in Psychology, Phi Beta Kappa, cum laude, University of California, Irvine, 1986
Publications and Working Papers
- Franzone, E., Kucharczyk, S., Sullivan, L., & Szidon, K. (2012). Facilitating the use of evidence based practices in classrooms: The national professional development center model for implementation. In Mundy, P. & Mastergeorge, A. (Eds), Autism for Educators, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
- Sullivan, L. (2010). Joint attention: Interactions with word learning and school readiness. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, Volume 71(11-A), pp.3902.
- Abedi, J., Kao, J.C., Leon, S., Mastergeorge, A., Sullivan, L., Herman, J., & Pope, R. (2010). Accessibility of segmented reading comprehension passages for students with disabilities. Applied Measurement in Education, 23 (2), 168-186.
- Mundy, P., Sullivan, L., & Mastergeorge, A. (2009). A parallel and distributed-processing model of joint attention, social cognition and autism. Autism Research, 2(1), 2-21.
- Abedi, K., Kao, J., Leon, J., Sullivan, L., Herman, J., Pope, R., Nambiar, V., & Mastergeorge, A. (2008). Exploring factors that affect accessibility of reading comprehension assessments for students with disabilities: A study of segmented text (Report No. 746), 80pp. Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).
Manuscript Currently Under Review
- Sullivan, L., Mundy, P., & Mastergeorge, A. Joint Attention, Social Behavior and School Readiness in Preschool Children.
Amanda Toering
Academic Personnel Analyst, Department Chair's Office
Cary Trexler
Professor
Research Interests
Agricultural Education; Agri-food system literacy; Service-learning; Secondary Education; Science Education; Technology in Science; Technology in teaching and learning
Nancy Tseng
Bilingual Coordinator–Mandarin, Lecturer/Supervisor, Multiple Subject Credential
Dr. Nancy Tseng is a Lecturer/Supervisor of Teacher Education in the School of Education. She began her career in education as a public elementary school teacher. Her research interests focus on the development of productive student-teacher relationships in elementary classrooms, identifying instructional practices that support mathematics learning and teaching, and pre-and in-service teacher education. Dr. Tseng received a BA in psychology, elementary teaching credential, and MA from the University of California, Davis. She has a Ph.D.
Yuuko Uchikoshi Tonkovich
Professor and Chair of Undergraduate Programs
Research Interests
Early Childhood; Multilingual Learners; Bilingualism and Bilingual Education; Educational Television and Multimedia; Language Acquisition; Early literacy Development; Quantitative Methods
Matt Wallace
Lecturer/Supervisor, Mathematics Credential
Education
- BS—University of California, Davis
- MA—San Francisco State University
- PhD—University of California, Davis
Professional Experience
- Director, Math for America Berkeley, 2012
- Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley, 2012
- University Supervisor, California State University, East Bay, 2011-2012
- Mathematics Teacher, Elk Grove Unified School District, 2002-2008
Professional Organization Membership
- America Educational Research Associatio
Megan Welsh
Associate Professor
Megan Welsh joined the School in July 2014 as an assistant professor in educational assessment and measurement. Since 2008, she was an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut. Her primary areas of research include test validity analysis, the use of assessment as an educational reform lever, grading, and evaluation of educational programs.
Maisha T. Winn
Professor, Chancellor's Leadership Professor, and Co-Director of Transformative Justice in Education Center (TJE)
Maisha T. Winn’s research spans a wide variety of understudied settings including her earlier work on the literate practices extant in bookstores and community organizations in the African American community to her most recent work in settings where adolescent girls are incarcerated.
Lawrence (Torry) Winn
Associate Professor of Teaching in Education, Co-Director of Transformative Justice in Education Center (TJE)
With over fifteen years of professional experience, Winn has worked and consulted with foundations, cities, and non-profits including Casey Family Programs, Annie E. Casey, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, City of Newark (NJ), City of Madison (WI), St. HOPE, MLK Community Resources Collaborative, and Race to Equity. His expertise includes youth programs/education, civic and community engagement, strategic partnerships, race and equity, and community based participatory research.
