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
Interim Vice Provost for Academic Innovation and Institutional Effectiveness
Phone: 408-924-5652
Email: ronald.rogers@sjsu.edu
Sarah Schraeder
Research Associate and Program Coordinator for Institutional Effectiveness
Phone: 408-924-3484
Email: sarah.schraeder@sjsu.edu
Institutional Effectiveness
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
Email: priya.raman@sjsu.edu
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
Email: pamela.richardson@sjsu.edu
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
Email: abraham.wolcott@sjsu.edu
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
Email: erin.woodhead@sjsu.edu
SJSU Online Advising and Student Success
Ryan Ploch-Branscum
Online Student Success Advisor
Phone: 408-924-7505
Email: ryan.ploch-branscum@sjsu.edu
SJSU Online Enrollment Management
Billy Cunningham
Online Communications and Data Manager
Phone: 408-924-7590
Email: billy.cunningham@sjsu.edu
For SJSU Online staff in other divisions and offices, view our Organizational Chart.
