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)
• California Superintendents Collaborative Network
• Shared Leadership Collaborative
• California Principals’ Support Network
• California Institute for School Improvement
These programs support and develop shared leadership capacity through a networked approach to professional collaboration and applied practice that are focused on creating the conditions that lead to improved instruction and educational outcomes for diverse students.
In this capacity, leaders in the field of educational research serve as guest faculty for CAP-Ed’s programs including Dr. Tom Many, Dr. Michael Fullan, Dr. Meredith Honig, Dr. Charles Payne, Dr. Marguerite Roza, Dr. James W. Popham, Dr. David Cohen, Dr. Larry Cuban and others.
Christina earned her Ed.D. from the University of California Davis, School of Education. Drawing on her work with leaders in educational systems research as well as knowledge from the field, from district and school leaders, Christina’s doctoral research explored the development and evolution of Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAP) as the Local Control Funding Formula was implemented in California. Christina has raised more than $6 million in support of CAP-Ed’s programs.
Prior to joining the UC Davis School of Education in 2012, Christina served as a consultant with School Facility Consultants in Sacramento, having started her career working in the offices of Murdoch, Walrath and Holmes and the Coalition for Adequate School Housing (C.A.S.H.). As a consultant supporting school districts seeking funding through the state program, Christina worked closely with district clients to help them navigate the state facilities funding system. A Sacramento native educated in both South Sacramento public schools and an all-girls college preparatory Catholic school, Christina returned to Northern California after living in Missoula, MT, Boston, MA, New York, NY, Taos, NM, San Diego, CA and Nairobi, Kenya where she studied as an undergraduate at the University of Nairobi.
Education
Ed.D., Educational Leadership, University of California Davis
MFA, Painting and Drawing, University of Montana, Missoula
MFA Thesis: Mills, Christina Murdoch, “The Enigma of the Everyday” (2009).
MA, Art History – Aesthetic Theory, University of Montana, Missoula
MA Thesis: “Materiality as the Basis for the Aesthetic Experience in Contemporary Art” (2009).
BA Third World Literature, University of California, San Diego; University of Nairobi — Nairobi, Kenya
