Meet Our Teams

Academic Innovation and Institutional Effectiveness is comprised of the following teams: Main Office, Institutional Effectiveness, SJSU Online Advising and Student Success, or SJSU Online Enrollment Management.

Main Office

Portrait of Ronald F. Rogers

Ronald F. Rogers

Interim Vice Provost for Academic Innovation and Institutional Effectiveness

Phone: 408-924-5652

Portrait of Shealyn Bissell

Shealyn Bissell

Projects and Program Analyst

Phone: 408-924-8678

Portrait of Shannon Gallagher

Shannon Gallagher

SJSU Online Coordinator

Phone: 408-924-2430

Portrait of Sarah Schraeder

Sarah Schraeder

Research Associate and Program Coordinator for Institutional Effectiveness

Phone: 408-924-3484

Institutional Effectiveness

Portrait of Priya Raman

Priya Raman

Director of Assessment and Associate Professor

Communication Studies | College of Social Sciences

I am the current Director of Assessment at San José State University (2020-present). I provide leadership for development and support of student learning assessment related training, mentoring, curriculum development, assessment management systems and software resources, and program planning processes. With my team of Assessment Facilitators from across all our Colleges, I support academic programs as they continue to hone their twin inquiry and reflective mindsets while assessing student learning. In my role, I continue to collaborate with the Center for Faculty Development to provide appropriate resources and training opportunities for new and continuing faculty colleagues.

I am a third-year Senator in SJSU’s Academic Senate, where I proudly represent the College of Social Sciences. I am the incoming Faculty-at-Large representative to the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate. I am the past Chair of SJSU's Institutional Review Board, and was re-elected as Chair of this Senate Operating Committee for three straight terms. Previously, I served on the Senate’s Professional Standards Committee with a special focus on RTP Reforms, and was the elected Chair of the Curriculum and Assessment Committee in the Department of Communication Studies.

My skill sets and my service commitments highlight my interest and enthusiasm for exploring complex and interesting problems, forming coalitions between diverse groups and parties, designing collaborative and sustainable training programs, and contributing to student and faculty success by helming innovative, pragmatic, and pedagogically sound solutions, that are at the intersections of empowerment, knowledge creation, information dissemination, and communication management. I am an avid quizzer, a science fiction enthusiast, and eternally curious about culture, human behavior, and the worlds within, and outside of us. Growing up an Army brat, service to others was drilled into us from an early age, and has been a guiding principle of everyday life ever since. The family motto has always been to "Bash on Regardless".

Phone: 408-924-5371

Spartan Spirit Head

Pamela Richardson

Chair of the Accreditation Review Committee and Professor

Occupational Therapy | College of Health and Human Sciences

I am a professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy and the chair of the Accreditation Review Committee, which is charged with leading the university in preparation for its accreditation review with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC). In my 24 years at SJSU, I have served in many roles including graduate program coordinator and chair of my department, and Associate Dean and Interim Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences. My goal has always been to prepare our students for success in their academic endeavors and in their life after college by providing a rigorous, inclusive, and supportive educational experience. One of my favorite things is seeing our graduates go on to lead creative, satisfying, and productive lives in service to their families and communities. The accreditation process helps us to make our students even more successful by giving us an opportunity to evaluate, reflect, and set goals to continue to get better at what we do. I greatly appreciate working with the university community in this role to support our students.

Phone: 408-924-2900

Portrait of Abraham Wolcott

Abraham Wolcott

Lead Chair of the Program Planning Committee and Associate Professor

Chemistry | College of Science

Professor Abraham Wolcott is serving as the lead chair of the Program Planning Committee starting in Fall 2022 and has been a member of the committee since Fall 2019. He is a physical chemist who focuses on the surface chemistry of nanoscale and bulk materials for biological labeling and alternative energy productive (solar cell research). He received a B.S. and PhD with Prof. Jin Z. Zhang at UC Santa Cruz (Jin Zhang group). He received an NSF postdoctoral fellowship and worked with Prof. Xiao Yang Zhu (XYZ Group at Columbia). at UT Austin, who then moved to Columbia University. Professor Wolcott also worked with Profs. Jon Owen (Jon Owen lab Columbia) and Dirk Englund (Dirk Englund at MIT) as a joint postdoctoral scientist at Columbia and MIT before coming to San José State University.

Professor Wolcott has taught physical chemistry lecturers (CHEM 160) and laboratory (CHEM162L) and has received several grants to incorporate technology into the physical chemistry course curriculum. One pedagogical tool that is being incorporated is the use of virtual reality (VR) into the classroom. Thermodynamics (Thermodynamics), kinetics (Chemical kinetics), quantum mechanics (Quantum mechanics) and spectroscopy (Spectroscopy) are topics in which VR-based lesson plans can be developed.

Phone: 408-924-5449

Portrait of Erin Woodhead

Erin Woodhead

Co Chair of the Program Planning Committee and Associate Professor

Psychology | College of Social Sciences

Dr. Woodhead has served as the Program Planning Committee co-chair since fall 2021 and as a committee member since Fall 2017. She joined the SJSU Psychology Department in 2012. She is a licensed psychologist and holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from West Virginia University (2009). Before joining the SJSU Psychology Department, Dr. Woodhead completed clinical and research postdoctoral training in geropsychology and geriatrics at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.

Dr. Woodhead's research interests are in the areas of substance use and treatment utilization in adulthood, particularly among older adults, and mental health in midlife and older adulthood. She has edited a Psychology of Aging textbook (Springer, 2018) and has a book forthcoming on alcohol problems among older adults. She teaches undergraduate classes in aging, clinical psychology, and abnormal psychology, and graduate courses in ethics, addictions, and lifespan development.

Phone: 408-924-5654

SJSU Online Advising and Student Success

Portrait of Sarah Gordon

Sarah Gordon

Managing Director

Phone: 408-924-3994

Portrait of Jamie Carranza

Jamie Carranza

Online Student Success Advisor

Phone: 408-924-7506

Portrait of Sarah Miers

Sarah Miers

Online Student Success Advisor

Phone: 408-924-7507

Photo of Ryan Ploch-Branscum

Ryan Ploch-Branscum

Online Student Success Advisor

Phone: 408-924-7505

SJSU Online Enrollment Management

Portrait of Rey Penate

Rey Penate

Senior Director for Online Recruitment

Phone: 408-924-2498

Portrait of Billy Cunningham

Billy Cunningham

Online Communications and Data Manager

Phone: 408-924-7590

Portrait of Alexa Lopez

Alexa Lopez

Online Recruitment Coordinator

Phone: 408-924-7584

Portrait of Isabella Aguilar

Isabella Aguilar

Enrollment Counselor

Phone: 408-924-7585

Portrait of Reuel Evangelista

Reuel Evangelista

Enrollment Counselor

Phone: 408-924-7570

Portrait of Joanne Young

Joanne Young

Enrollment Counselor

Phone: 408-924-7583

For SJSU Online staff in other divisions and offices, view our Organizational Chart