Faculty

The Ed.D. Leadership Program faculty are composed of an interdiscplinary group of scholars and researchers from across SJSU who are committed to preparing collaborative, transformative leaders capable of building school systems free from oppression, injustice, and inequality as well as to closing the opportunity gap resulting in educational disparities and social inequalities.

Program Director

Bradley Porfilio, PhD Professor bradley.porfilio@sjsu.edu (408) 924-3566 Sweeney Hall (SH) 401 Twitter: @drporfilio

• Dr. Porfilio's Bio

  • Bradley Porfilio is tenured Professor and Director of the Ed.D. Leadership Program at the Connie L. Lurie College of Education at San José State University. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Porfilio was the Associate Dean of Research and Faculty Affairs at Seattle University.  From 2014-2017, he served as the Director of the Doctorate (Ed.D.) in the Educational Leadership for Social Justice at CSU East Bay. He was a principal faculty member in the Teaching and Leadership Ed.D. Program at Lewis University.  Additionally, he spent numerous years in leadership positions in higher education. He was a faculty member of educational studies, of pedagogy and teacher education, a director of social studies education, and a university supervisor of pre-service and in-service teachers.

    Dr. Porfilio’s philosophy of research is tied to understanding pressing problems impacting teachers, children and society. For instance, he has supervised dissertation projects, supervised undergraduate and graduate action research projects, and generated his own peer-reviewed research in order to understand why opportunity gaps along the lines of race, class, gender, sexuality, and (dis)ability in K-16 educational institutions exist. Equally important, he believes scholars must be committed to critically examining what policies, practices, pedagogies, and social movements have the potential eliminate oppression in schools and other social contexts. 

    He was the former Chief Editor of Issues of Teacher Education from 2015-2018. He is currently Co-Editor of the International Journal of Critical Media Literacy and The SoJo Journal: Educational Foundations and Social Justice Education, each of which bring critical and necessary lenses to academic research and practice. His scholarship has received six American Educational Studies Association Critics’ Choice Awards. 

    

Core Faculty

Arnold Danzig, Ph.D. | Professor, Educational Leadership

Brent Duckor, Ph.D. | Professor, Teacher Education

Bob Gliner, Ph.D. | Lecturer, Emeritus Ed.D. Leadership Program

Roxana Marachi, Ph.D. | Professor, Teacher Education

Nikos Mourtos, Ph.D. | Department Chair & Professor, Aerospace Engineering

Eduardo Muñoz-Muñoz, Ph.D. | Assistant Professor, Teacher Education

Bradley Porfilio, Ph.D. | Director & Professor, Ed.D. Leadership Program

Noni Reis, Ph.D. | Emeritus Faculty, Educational Leadership

Affiliated Faculty

Rebeca Burciaga, Ph.D. | Professor, Educational Leadership

Lorri Capizzi, Ed.D. | Assistant Professor, Counselor Education 

Pamela Cheng, Ed.D. | Instructional Faculty, Ed.D. Leadership Program

Michael Gallagher, Ed.D. | Instructional Faculty, Ed.D. Leadership Program

Carrie Holmberg, Ed.D | Lecturer, Teacher Education

Saili Kulkarni, Ph.D. | Associate Professor, Special Education

María Ledesma, Ph.D. | Interim Chair, Educational Leadership

Mei-Yan Lu, Ph.D. | Professor, Educational Leadership

Bobbie Plough, Ed.D. | Lecturer, Ed.D. Leadership Program

Luis Poza, Ph.D. | Assistant Professor, Teacher Education

Rosalinda Quintanar-Sarellana, Ph.D. | Emeritus Faculty, Teacher Education

Emily Slusser, Ph.D. | Department Chair, Child & Adolescent Development

David Whitenack, Ph.D. | Department Chair, Teacher Education

Core Faculty Directory, Bios, and Highlights

Arnold Danzig, Ph.D. Professor, Educational Leadership arnold.danzig@sjsu.edu  (408) 924-3722

• Dr. Danzig's Bio

  • Arnold Danzig is professor and former founding director of the Ed.D. program in Educational Leadership in the Connie L. Lurie College of Education at San José State University. Prior to that he served as professor and associate director, School of Public Affairs/College of Public Programs at Arizona State University. In 2009-2010, he served as Professor and Director of the Division of Advanced Studies in Policy, Leadership, and Curriculum and Professor of Education Leadership and Policy Studies in the Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education. He has served as Associate Dean and Director of the D.E.L.T.A. Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership. His research offers a humanistic vision of leadership for schools and democratic institutions, with deep and practical commitment to the betterment of individual and institutional lives. He has extensive international experience related to globalization and education policy, and has led groups for international study in Europe, Mexico, and South America. Dr. Danzig has published numerous books and articles on educational leadership and education policy including Learner-Centered Leadership: Research, Policy, and Practice (2007), and School Leadership Internship (3rd edition, 2012). His newest book (edited with Liz Hollingworth) is Research in Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership (2014), a volume in the University Council for Educational Administration Leadership Series. He is also an author and editor of the American Educational Research Association's Journal Review of Research in Education, which released the 2012 volume "Education, Democracy, and the Public Good," and the forthcoming 2014 volume titled "Language Policy, Diversity, and Politics in Education." His published articles on educational leadership and school administration, professional development, and school-to-work transition, have appeared in multiple journals including International Studies in Educational Administration, Education Policy, Journal of Educational Administration, Educational Leadership and Administration, Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation.

• Dr. Danzig's Recent Publications & Presentations

  • Book

    Martin, G. E., Danzig, A. B., Flanary, R. A., & Orr, M. T. (2021). School leader internship: Developing, monitoring, and evaluating your leadership experience (Fifth). Routledge.

    Danzig, A. & Black, W. (Eds). (2019). Who controls the preparation of school administrators? Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

    Book Chapters

    Danzig, A., Black, W., & Aravamudhan, R. (2019). Introduction to volume: Academic drift and institutional production. In A. Danzig & W. Black,. (Eds). Who controls the preparation of school administrators? (pp. 3-25). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

    Black, W., & Danzig, A. (2019). Principal preparation or leadership education? Examining administrative licensure production and graduate employment in three state contexts. In A. Danzig & W. Black,. (Eds). Who controls the preparation of school administrators? (pp. 53-80). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

    Conference Papers and Participation

    International Council of Professors of Educational Leadership (ICPEL) (2021). Symposia Organizer and Session Participant. Symposium 1: Who Decides: Power, Dis/ability and Leadership: Focus on Ontology, Epistemology, Intersectionality, and Advocacy; Symposium 2: Who Decides: Power, Dis/ability and Leadership: Policy and Practice

    World Education Leadership Symposium (2019). Symposium Organizer and Session Participant. Who Controls the Preparation of Education Administrators: Institutional Production, Academic Drift, and Epistemic Drift. Zug, Switzerland, September 22 - 27, 2019.

    University Council for Education Administration (2019). Faculty Mentor. Graduate Student Symposium. New Orleans, LA: November 20, 2019.

    University Council for Education Administration (2019). Ignite Session, Organizer and Participant. Who Controls Education Administration? New Orleans, LA: November 20-24, 2019.

Brent Duckor, Ph.D. Professor, Teacher Education brent.duckor@sjsu.edu  (408) 924-3342

• Dr. Duckor's Bio

  • Brent Duckor is an Associate Professor in the Lurie College of Education at San José State University. He teaches courses in Classroom Evaluation and Assessment and supervises pre-service teachers in the Single Subject Credential Program of the Department of Teacher Education. His doctoral course EDUC 530 "Assessment, Testing and Evaluation: Contexts and Implications for School Reform" focuses on the link between formative, interim, and summative assessment systems in K-12 education. Dr. Duckor received his Ph.D. in Quantitative Methods and Evaluation at the University of California, Berkeley. He holds a Masters of International Affairs with a Business concentration from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics with Honors from the University of California, Santa Cruz. A former social science and history teacher at Central Park East Secondary School in East Harlem in New York City, he is dedicated to educational reforms that advance the development of rigorous alternative assessment frameworks. Dr. Duckor’s current research interests focus on three areas: teachers’ understanding and use of formative assessment in the K-12 classroom; validation of teacher licensure exams and certification in state, national, and international contexts; and measuring non-cognitive outcomes for program evaluation and school improvement to better serve historically disadvantaged, low-income youth. Dr. Duckor is an appointed member of the CalTPA Design Team for California’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing and an Advisory Board member of the College and Career Readiness Evaluation Consortium for the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships in Washington, D.C. He has co-edited several international journals including Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling and Pensamiento Educativo, both focused on new developments in Rasch IRT modeling. His most recent scholarship has appeared in Phi Delta Kappan, Teachers College Record, Educational Leadership, Journal of Teacher Education, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, and The English Journal.

• Dr. Duckor's Recent Publications 

  • Article

    Duckor, B. & Holmberg, C. (2019/2020). Seven high-leverage formative Assessment moves to support ELLs. Educational Leadership, 77(4), 46-52.
    Excerpt: Sound in-class assessment strategies can make a big difference in deepening ELLs' learning.

    In our 2017 book, Mastering Formative Assessment Moves (ASCD), we outlined seven high-leverage formative assessment strategies that promote ambitious teaching and deeper learning. Since then, we've been working with pre- and in-service teachers who are implementing the new English Language Development Standards (2014) in California, and we have begun to see how these strategies can serve as the natural bridge to help English language learners reach greater proficiency in their understanding of academic language. Research tells us that the assessment choices teachers make in their classrooms matter. John Hattie's findings (2009, 2012) remind us that student achievement outcomes can be mapped to specific high-leverage practices. We know, after years of top-down reforms, that formative assessment is more than just a buzzword. For teachers working with English language learners, these sound formative assessment practices can help make a difference minute by minute. 

Bob Gliner, Ph.D. Lecturer & Emeritus Faculty, Ed.D. Leadership Program robert.gliner@sjsu.edu  (408) 924-1796

• Dr. Gliner's Bio

  • Robert Gliner is a Professor Emeritus, Sociology, from San José State University, where he taught in the Department of Sociology for 35 years. His general area of specialization was social change, with a focus on education and social change. Dr. Gliner also helped develop the Center for Service Learning on the campus as well as creating several interdisciplinary programs which combined courses from a wide range of departments in helping solve community problems. He has taught in the College of Education at San Jose State in the Departments of Elementary Education and Counselor Education.  Perhaps, however, he is best known as an award winning documentary film producer, with more than 40 films to his credit. Dr. Gliner's films, like his specialization in sociology, focus on social change throughout the world, and more recently, on education and social change. He has filmed on location in more than 35 nations including Rwanda, Cuba, India, China, Israel and the West Bank, Albania, Russia, Guatemala and El Salvador. More than 30 of his films have aired on PBS stations throughout the United States, and many of his programs are used by colleges, universities, and non-profit organizations.  

    In the area of public education, he has focused a half a dozen films on social justice and community or place-based education including: Schools That Change Communities (2012), Lessons From the Real World (2011), Education for Social Responsibility(2004), Growing Up Green (2014), and Barefoot College (2013). He has won numerous film awards, and locally at San Jose State University, he received the Austin Warburton Award of Merit, given by the College of Social Sciences to its top faculty scholar, 1993, and the President’s Scholar Award, given to the top faculty scholar at the University, 2002. In conjunction with his documentary work he has taught documentary film production in the Department of Television, Film, Radio and Theater at San José State, as well as at the Central University of Rajasthan, India. For a full list of his documentaries, please visit his website: DocMakerOnline.com. 

Roxana Marachi, Ph.D. Professor, Teacher Education roxana.marachi@sjsu.edu  (408) 924-3729 Twitter: @ConnectEdProf

• Dr. Marachi's Bio

  • Roxana Marachi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at SJSU where she teaches Foundations of Psychology in Education and Leadership, Culture, and Diversity in the doctoral program. Dr. Marachi received her Ph.D. degree in Education and Psychology at the University of Michigan with a research focus on school climate, student motivation, and evaluation of violence prevention programs. Her current interests intersect research-to-practice gaps in the implementation of policies related to high-stakes testing, privatization, and the technologization of teaching and learning. Dr. Marachi hosts the EduResearcher blog aimed at bridging research to practice in education. She has presented at national and international education conferences, was co-chair of the Safe Schools and Communities Committee for the American Educational Research Association from 2009-2012, and is currently chair of the education committee of the Silicon Valley/San Jose NAACP. Dr. Marachi was the recipient of the 2015 Justice Award from Californians for Justice and the 2015 Freedom Fighter Award from the Silicon Valley/San Jose NAACP. Since 2011, she has been actively involved with regional initiatives including the Santa Clara County School Linked Services Program, Santa Clara County School Climate and Leadership Committee, Children’s Action Network, and the Santa Clara County Juvenile Justice Systems Collaborative.

Nikos Mourtos, Ph.D. Chair & Professor, Aerospace Engineering nikos.mourtos@sjsu.edu  (408) 924-3867

• Dr. Mourtos's Bio

  • Nikos J. Mourtos is a professor and the Chair of the Aerospace Engineering Department at SJSU. He received his Ph.D. degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Stanford University. He has developed and taught more than 20 courses in diverse subjects spanning from aerodynamics and aircraft design to leadership and complexity and systems thinking. His research interests encompass learning theories and innovative pedagogies, course design and assessment, faculty development, complexity and systems thinking.

    Dr. Mourtos has served as the Faculty Instructional Development Coordinator for the College of Engineering (1996-2002), a Faculty-in-Residence for Innovative Pedagogy (1998-2002) and the Assistant Director for the SJSU Center for Faculty Development and Support (2006-2008). He has published extensively on engineering education topics such as active, cooperative, problem-based and service learning, teaching and learning styles, teaching and assessing problem solving and design skills, faculty development, and program assessment. He has conducted more than 100 faculty workshops at SJSU, in the US, and around the world with a focus on course design and in particular how to teach and assess 21st century skills.

Eduardo Muñoz-Muñoz, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Teacher Education eduardo.munoz-munoz@sjsu.edu  (408) 924-3771

• Dr. Munoz-Munoz's Bio

  • Eduardo R. Muñoz-Muñoz, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor and the Bilingual Program Coordinator at the Lurie College of Education at San José State University. Dr. Muñoz-Muñoz earned his doctorate at Stanford University in 2018. His dissertation “De-standardizing the standard (s): Ideological and Implementational Spaces in Pre-service Teacher Education” has been recognized with the 2020 award for the best dissertation by the Second Language Research Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology (Stanford University, 2016), a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership (UC Berkeley, 2010), and a Licenciatura in English Philology (Universidad de Córdoba, España, 2000). He has taught high school in Spain and the UK and elementary bilingual education, before becoming a coach and then an elementary school principal in 2010.

    As a critical sociolinguist, his research, teaching, and practice engage with issues of linguistic access, educational opportunities, and teacher preparation from an interpretivist stance. Additionally, he regularly supports and advises districts and dual immersion programs on design and implementational issues pertaining to multilingualism. An intrinsic part of his praxis is the engagement in educational policy activism, as an active member of the statewide coalition Californians Together.

    Dr. Muñoz serves as an advisor for doctoral students with a clear determination to advance social justice through their scholarly work. He specializes in issues related to emergent bilinguals, multilingual school organization, linguistic policies. As a practitioner of qualitative methodologies, he supports research designs that acknowledge the political, historical, and situated nature of research.

    Recent publications include the 2020 PACE-Pivot learning policy brief English Language Learners and the Local Control Funding Formula Implementation Challenges and Successes from Two District Cases, the 2019 chapter Preparing Bilingual Teachers to Enact Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, or the article From English learner to Spanish learner: Raciolinguistic Beliefs that Influence Heritage Spanish Speaking Teacher Candidates, both coauthored with Drs. Claudia Rodríguez-Mojica and Allison Briceño.

• Dr. Munoz-Munoz's Recent Publications & Presentations

  • Publications

    Muñoz-Muñoz, E. (2021). Where the Translingual Rubber Hits the Road: Ideological Frictions, Mixtificaciones y Potentialities in Bilingual Teacher Preparation Programs. Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 15(3), 47-68.

    Muñoz-Muñoz, E. R. (2021). Amy J. Heineke and Kristin J. Davin (eds): Review of the Seal of Biliteracy: Case Studies and Considerations for Policy Implementation.

    Muñoz-Muñoz, E., & Briceño, A. (2021). It Is Not If, But When: Organizational and Leadership Recommendations for The Upcoming Demand for Expanded Dl Programs and Their Articulation. Journal for Leadership, Equity, and Research, 7(3).

    Presentations

    National Association of Bilingual Education, NABE, (Feb 2022) with Marcella McCollum and Matthew Love
    "Opening the Seal of Biliteracy: a Critical Examination of California Award Distribution and Implications for Equity"

    San Mateo County Office of Education (Jan 2022)
    "Translanguaging: Pushing the Sobre for Educational Equity"

    Humboldt County Office of Education (Jan 2022)
    "Deconstructing the Native Speaker: What is that?"

Noni Reis, Ph.D. Emeritus Faculty, Educational Leadership noni.mendozareis@sjsu.edu

• Dr. Reis's Bio

  • Noni M. Reis is a Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at San Jose State University. Her work at San Jose State is focused on social justice approaches to leadership development.

    Dr. Reis is the Editor of the Journal of Administration & Supervision, of the California Association of Professors of Educational Administration. Dr. Reis has spent the last three decades in the development of instructional programs designed to support educators in the effective education of English language learner students. She led the development of several state and national curriculum and coaching programs, including Toward Equity: Building Multicultural Schools (California Department of Education); Teaching Alive (Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence at University of California, Santa Cruz); English Language Learners: Language, Culture and Equity (National Education Association) and most recently, Improving the Teaching and Learning of English Language Learners: The Instructional Conversation Model (Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education, University of Georgia, Athens).

• Dr. Reis's Recent Publications

  • Research Project

    Co-Investigator in a ten-university collaborative study, "ICPEL Equity and Inclusion Leaders". February 2022 - August 2022. East Tennessee State University. 

    Recent Scholarship

    Summer 2021. Co-Editor, Special Edition Volume 1, Justice-Centered Leadership.  Educational Leadership and Administration: Teaching and Program Development. California Association of Professors of Educational Leadership. www.capea.org 

    Journal Articles

    Gray, M.S. & Mendoza-Reis, N. (2021). From preparation to the principalship: Towards a framework for social justice in leadership. CAPEA Journal Special Edition, Volume 1. Justice-Centered Leadership

Affiliated Faculty Directory, Bios, and Highlights

Rebeca Burciaga, Ph.D. Professor, Educational Leadership rebeca.burciaga@sjsu.edu  (408) 924-3644 Twitter: @qvo

• Dr. Burciaga's Bio

  • Dr. Rebeca Burciaga is the Founding Executive Director of the Institute for Emancipatory Education in the Connie L. Lurie College of Education at San José State University and a Professor of Educational Leadership & Chicana and Chicano Studies. Her research is nested in the nepantla (borderlands) of Education and Chicana/o Studies and focuses on the schooling experiences of Chicano and Latino students, families, communities, educators, and leaders from preschool through profession. Her current work focuses on emancipatory and culturally sustaining approaches to school leadership with SJSU's Emancipatory School Leadership MA Program that she founded. Her research in schools and communities spans over 20 years and includes mixed-methods research on pathways from preschool to the professoriate, the experiences of students who leave high school before graduation, and the ways in which geographic regions structure inequalities. She specializes in the study of qualitative methodologies, critical theories (e.g. critical race theory & Chicana feminist theories), and critical pedagogies (e.g. testimonio). 

    Dr. Burciaga has an undergraduate degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz, a master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of California at Los Angeles. She is a co-founder of the Institute for Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice and her research has been supported by highly competitive funding including the Spencer Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. Her most recent scholarship can be found in Educational Administration Quarterly, Equity & Excellence in Education, Race, Ethnicity and Education, Multicultural Perspectives, and the Association of Mexican American Educators Journal.

• Dr. Burciaga's Recent Publications & Presentations

  • Presentations

    Burciaga, R. (2019, November). Testimonio as a culturally sustaining pedagogy. College of Social Sciences Dean’s Symposium, San José State University, San José, CA.

    Burciaga, R. (2019, October). Publishing in the Social Sciences and Humanities. Invited presentation. The Ford Foundation: 2019 Conference of Ford Fellows, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

    Burciaga, R. & Tavares, A. (2020, February). Latinas Leading Schools: An Act of Resistance. School Leaders of Color Conference. Las Vegas, Nevada.

    Podcast

    Alemán, E. & Burciaga, R. (Speakers). (2019, November 4). Weaving the Personal with the Work [Latinx Intelligentsia Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/latinx-intelligen-tsia/id1477651063. 

    Publication

    Whitenack, D., Golloher, A., & Burciaga, R. (2019). Intersectionally reculturing educational leader preparation and practice for all students. Journal of the California Association of Professors of Educational Administration, 31

Lorri Capizzi, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor, Counselor Education
lorri.cappizi@sjsu.edu 
(408) 924-3829

• Dr. Capizzi's Bio

  • Dr. Capizzi teaches counseling and guidance graduate level courses. She has over 10 years of placing and supervising school counselors in their internships/field-work in high need districts and in juvenile court schools for students under court supervision. She has over 15 years of federal grant administration experience with Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) working with schools, districts, and counties serving students in foster care and students experiencing homelessness. Dr. Capizzi's expertise with underserved youth spans K-12 to higher education emphasizing practice-based training and applied research. She is a specialist in the area of foster youth, and has been a consultant to County Offices of Education where she has advised districts on developing Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs). She serves as he faculty advisor for the CSU Guardian Scholars Program for emancipated foster youth in higher education at San Jose State and advises SJSU administration on program design and curriculum development for this program. Her research partnerships/projects have served the California Department of Education, County Offices of Educaton - Foster and Homeless divisions, California Department of Child and Family Services and The Superior Courts of Santa Clara County. 

• Dr. Capizzi's Recent Publications & Presentations

  • Publications

    Qi, S, Lee, Capizzi, L. Seung, J. L., (2019). Benefits of Online Support Groups for Chinese-American Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of the International Association of Special Education, 19(1), 67-77.

    Capizzi, L.M., Hoffstetter, C. H., Mena, D., Duckor, B., & Hu, X. (2017). Promoting low-income students’ college readiness, well-being, and success: A GEAR UP counseling program study. Journal of School Counseling. 15(3). 1-26.

    Presentations

    Capizzi, L. M., (2019, April). Foster Youth in Higher Education: School Counselors’ Impact on Educational Pathways. Poster presentation at the American Educational Research Association
    Conference, Montreal, Canada.

    Capizzi, L. M. (Panel Chair), Hu, X., Jin, C., Chen, Y., Li, Z., (2018, May). Development of Career Counseling in Secondary Education in the People’s Republic of China. Asia Pacific Career Development Association., Beijing, China.

    Capizzi, L. M., Davis, C., Martinez, D., (2018, April). Former Foster Youth in Higher Education: First Year Experience “If I had only known...”. California Foster Youth Summit, Pomona, CA.

    Mena, D. D., Capizzi, L. M., (2018, April). How a college preparation program helped to create college dreams for Latino high school Dreamers. Paper accepted for presentation at the American Educational Research Association Conference, New York, NY.

Michael Gallagher, Ed.D. Instructional Faculty, Ed.D. Leadership Program michael.gallagher@sjsu.edu

• Dr. Gallagher's Bio

  • Michael Gallagher has been appointed Superintendent of the Sunnyvale School District, a pre-school through eighth-grade district serving 6600 students, effective July 1, 2020. He has served the public schools of Santa Clara County as a high school teacher and administrator, middle school principal, human resources administrator and, effective July 1, 2020, as Superintendent for more than 30 years.

    Michael earned a Doctor of Education degree in Educational Leadership from San Francisco State University while focusing on describing and supporting effective teachers in high poverty schools.  He earned masters degrees in Counseling Education and Educational Administration and a BA degree in English, all from Santa Clara University. He holds a single subjects English credential earned through his study at San José State University.

    Dr. Gallagher regularly presents on the application of research in the areas of the social emotional dimensions of teaching and learning, supporting teaching effectiveness in high poverty schools, and interest based bargaining.

Carrie Holmberg, Ed.D. Lecturer, Teacher Education carrie.holmberg@sjsu.edu Twitter: @CarrieHolmberg

• Dr. Holmberg's Bio

  • Carrie Holmberg, Ed.D., is an adjunct faculty member in the Teacher Education Department (TED) at San José State University where she has taught courses in learning environments, assessment, and English methods. After earning English and master’s of education degrees from Stanford University, Dr. Holmberg taught English, Intermediate English Language Development, journalism, and AVID at a Title I comprehensive high school in Silicon Valley for nearly a decade. She earned her National Board Certification in 2000 and renewed it in 2009 while mentoring new teachers at charter schools serving underprivileged students in San José. Dr. Holmberg’s interest in supporting teacher candidates and inservice teachers to help all their students achieve, particularly by means of developing teachers’ formative assessment practices, was met with interest and support by TED faculty. Several co-authored publications, including the book published by ASCD, Mastering Formative Assessment Moves: 7 High-Leverage Practices to Advance Student Learning, resulted from these collaborative efforts. Dr. Holmberg has served on the board of the California Educational Research Association and currently serves as an officer of the Classroom Assessment Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. Dr. Holmberg earned her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from San José State in 2017, while conducting pioneering research on teacher learning progressions in formative assessment with middle school mathematics teachers in multilingual, high needs contexts. Her scholarship has appeared in The Journal of Educational Measurement, The Handbook of Research in Middle Level Education, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, The English Journal, Educational Leadership, and Phi Delta Kappan.

Saili Kulkarni, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Special Education saili.kulkarni@sjsu.edu (408) 924-3313 Twitter: @Dr_Koolkarni

• Dr. Kulkarni's Bio

  • Saili S. Kulkarni, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at San Jose State University in the Connie L. Lurie College of Education, Department of Special Education. Dr. Kulkarni's research focuses on dis/ability studies, intersections of disability and race, teacher beliefs, qualitative research, and disability studies and critical race theory (DisCrit). She utilizes case studies, ethnographic, self-study, and counter-narrative research. She taught special education for three and a half years in Oakland, California before obtaining a doctoral degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At Madison, Dr. Kulkarni worked as the Program Coordinator for the Multicultural Graduate Network and was inducted into the Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society. Dr. Kulkarni created Oakland Unified School District's first inclusive teachers network, a forum/space for teachers of inclusive education to support one another and share resources. She earned her teaching credential in special education at San Francisco State University. Prior to teaching, Dr. Kulkarni earned her B.A. in Psychology at Boston University where she completed a National Institutes on Drug Abuse fellowship at the Boston Medical Center in Public Health. Dr. Kulkarni's recent work seeks to understand the dis/ability and race-related beliefs of special education teachers of color and re-position special education teachers of color as smart, critical exemplars of change in schools.

• Dr. Kulkarni's Recent Publications

  • A Collaborative Self-Study: Advocating for Democratic Principles and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Teacher Education in The Educational Forum

    By Saili S. Kulkarni, Jennifer Stacy (Cal State Dominguez) and Heather Kertyzia (University of Peace, Costa Rica)

    This paper presented a collaborative self-study of three teacher educators and how they understood, practiced, and promoted democratic education in response to the divisive rhetoric of 2015–2016 at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in Southern California. The prevalence of neoliberal ideologies throughout the 2016 election season challenged understandings of democratic education. Therefore, the paper explored how teacher educators promote democratic education and pedagogy during times of political uncertainty. The paper was also accepted as a paper presentation for the 2020 San Francisco American Educational Research Association under the Peace Education SIG and for the World Education Research Association Conference in Santiago de Compostela, Spain this summer.

María Ledesma, Ph.D. Interim Chair, Educational Leadership maria.ledesma@sjsu.edu

• Dr. Ledesma's Bio

  • Dr. María C. Ledesma grew up in Oakland, California. As a first-generation college student, María earned a B.A. from UC Berkeley, a master’s degree from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, and a Ph.D. in education from UCLA. She has previous experience as an undergraduate admissions reader for her undergraduate alma mater, UC Berkeley, and sat as the graduate student representative for the University of California’s faculty senate committee on undergraduate admissions—The Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools. As a doctoral student María was selected to sit as the 32nd Student Regent for the University of California, the first Latina to hold this post. Her research interests include equity oriented critical policy analysis, including contextualizing and historicizing the history and application of race-conscious social policy in higher education and the examination of leadership for social justice. She is also interested in exploring the experiences of faculty of color who identify as first-generation. Her work has appeared in the Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, Equity and Excellence in Education, Review of Higher Education, and Qualitative Inquiry.

Mei-Yan Lu, Ph.D. Professor, Educational Leadership mei-yan.lu@sjsu.edu (408) 924-3645

• Dr. Lu's Bio

  • Mei-Yan Lu is a Professor in the Educational Leadership Department. Dr. Lu is an internationally recognized author and keynote speaker. Her area of research and specializations include hybrid/blended learning, faculty/staff development, teacher training/support, program evaluation, service learning, design/develop e-learning for diverse audiences, and women administrators/leaders. She has more than one hundred publications and presentations in journals, books, and conferences. She has been invited to give keynote speeches, seminars, and workshops at major conferences, universities, and companies in the United States, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Thailand, and Germany.

    Dr. Lu has received numerous honors and recognitions such as the Millennium Leadership Initiative (MLI) Fellowship by the Association of State Colleges and Universities and the ACE/Sloan Post-Tenure Professional Renewal Faculty Fellow. She was invited by Yuan T. Lee, then President of Academia Sinica (Taiwan) and Nobel Laureate to give workshops to the Taiwan Education Reform Committee. She has been a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, Silpakorn University and Chulalongkorn University (both in Thailand). She is also the Past President for the International Division of the Association for Educational Communication and Technology (AECT) and has served on numerous University committees at SJSU, including as chair. Dr. Lu is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, and English.

Rosalinda Quintanar-Sarellana, Ph.D. Emeritus Faculty, Teacher Education rosalinda.quintanar@sjsu.edu (408) 924-3747

• Dr. Quintanar-Sarellana's Bio

  • Rosalinda Quintanar-Sarellana graduated from Stanford University with a Ph.D. in the area of Literacy, Language and Culture, and a Masters in the area of International Education and Development. Presently, she is a professor at San Jose State University, where she teaches First and Second Language Acquisition and Multicultural Education.

    Additionally, as a CFA Higher Education Representative, Dr. Quintanar-Sarellana was a Vice-Chair and member of the Statewide CTA State Council Language Acquisition Committee. This committee worked closely with legislators and other stake holders to help pass Proposition 58 and other legislation that addressed English Learners.

    During her tenure she helped develop two Guides for the Implementation of Proposition 58. One of the guides focused on teachers and the second one focused on parents.  These guides have been used widely by school districts and organizations like the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE). In addition she was appointed by the CTA Board as a liaison to the CABE Board. She attended the CABE Board Meetings for 10 years and was a member of the Legislative Committee, meeting with stakeholders and helping to craft legislation that addressed the needs of English Learners and other underserved communities. 

•  Dr. Quintanar-Sarellana's Recent Publications & Proejcts

  • Publications

    Quintanar-Sarellana, R. (forthcoming). Bilingual Education: Strategy for Learning. In W. De La Torre; T. Montano; Quintanar-Sarellana, R. (Eds.), Inequality for None: Transforming Practices in Urban Education. Dubuque, IA. Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.

    Projects that address English Learners

    Language Acquisition Development Projects in Chile, Turkey, Canada, Mexico and China.

    Literacy Through Science Project and the SJSU Bilingual Project Collaboration. Co-founded a journal, Electronic Journal of Literacy Through Science and co-edited it for 10 years.

    Member of the PACT (Performance Assessment for California Teachers) that worked on developing the bilingual version of the PACT. This was a team of UC, CSU professors led by Stanford adapted the PACT rubrics and teaching event to include English Learners.

    Participation in the design and implementation of the Instructional Conversation Model (Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education, University of Georgia, Athens).

Emily Slusser, Ph.D. Chair, Child & Adolescent Development emily.slusser@sjsu.edu (408) 924-3752

• Dr. Slusser's Bio

  • Emily Slusser began her career in child development as the program coordinator for an early education program where she developed intervention strategies for preschool children with limited educational resources. Since that time, Dr. Slusser has established a research program that explores children’s early cognitive representations of number and the later development of symbolic math concepts. She is particularly interested in learning how cognitive representational resources drive language learning and how language, in turn, supports further conceptual development. Over the next couple years she aims to launch a fully interdisciplinary research program exploring best practices in early education and intervention.

• Dr. Slusser's Recent Publications & Presentations

  • Conference Publications

    American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting: “Early Children Education and Quality Care: The Parents' Perspective” by Buu Thai & Emily Slusser.

    American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting: “Digital Literacy and the Common Core: What Does Instruction Look Like in Early Elementary Classrooms?” by Delnaz Hosseini & Emily Slusser.

    Critical Questions in Education Conference: "Schooling Alone? An Investigation into Online Learning Environments" by Sara Douglas & Emily Slusser.

    Article

    CalMatters: "Support for each and every child from the start: A call for affordable, high-quality care and education for babies and toddlers across the state" by Emily Slusser, Andrea Golloher, and Maria Fusaro.

David Whitenack, Ph.D. Chair, Teacher Education david.whitenack@sjsu.edu (408) 924-3736

• Dr. Whitenack's Bio

  • David A. Whitenack, Ph.D., Chair and Professor of the Teacher Education Department (TED) of the Lurie College of Education at San José State University (SJSU), is a graduate of the Language, Literacy, and Culture program of the Stanford University Graduate School of Education. He teaches a foundations and methods course focusing on emergent multilingual students, supervises pre-service teachers, and coordinates the graduate program in TED. Whitenack has published and presented in the areas of educating emergent multilingual students and related professional development, particularly in Professional Development Schools and other school-university partnerships. He has led professional development initiatives related to improving the teaching and learning of emergent multilingual students in local school districts and was Co-Principal Investigator of the U.S. Department of Education funded ELLISA Project, which focused on integrating English language and literacy development in CCSS / NGSS-aligned content-area curriculum and instruction. His subsequent work has built on the ELLISA practices through the Tier 1 Framework, a collaboration with SJSU Department of Special Education colleagues Andrea Golloher and Lisa Simpson focused on using an intersectional approach to prepare all classroom practitioners to develop the content knowledge and academic language of all students in the mainstream classroom. Whitenack and Simpson are currently Co-Directors and Co-Principal Investigators of SJSU Teacher Residency Partnerships (TRP), an expanding group of collaborative teacher preparation / professional development initiatives with local high-need school districts. The TRP recruits and develops diverse teachers, particularly targeting special education and bilingual education, and places them with mentors in year-long teacher residencies to create a teaching force that more closely mirrors local students, particularly in high-need schools and districts.

Current Faculty Resources

• Working with Ed.D. Dissertation Writers [pdf]
• Ed.D. and the IRB [pdf]