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Research Spotlight
The faculty at the College of Education continues to push boundaries and excel in their research endeavors, driving innovation and positively impacting the field of education. Recent breakthroughs include pioneering studies on personalized learning techniques, innovative pedagogical approaches integrating technology, and impactful interventions addressing educational disparities. With a commitment to both theoretical exploration and practical application, our faculty members are actively engaged in addressing pressing issues in education, such as equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Furthermore, our college is proud to announce the publication of groundbreaking research in top-tier academic journals and the receipt of prestigious grants, further solidifying our position as a leader in educational research and practice. Stay tuned for more exciting developments as we continue to strive for excellence in shaping the future of education.
Child & Adolescent Development
Kristen Alexander 
kalexander@csus.edu
Professor of Child and Adolescent Development
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Curriculum & Instruction
Eric Claravall 
eric.claravall@csus.edu
Associate Professor
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I am a scholar-practitioner in the fields of educational psychology, literacy, and special education. My main research interest falls within the intersection of cognition, instruction, disciplinary literacy development, and social justice pedagogy. My overall research agenda is to understand the teaching and learning of disciplinary literacies in both print-based and digital environments for marginalized students of color. I am currently studying the cognitive processes involved in reading and writing from multiple sources to develop critical thinking and civic consciousness among students with learning differences. I am interested in how compassionate pedagogy can be a tool to dismantle the deficit-thinking model in education and train teachers to be socially just and equitable teachers. My works have been published in the Journal of Social Studies Research, Reading and Writing Quarterly, Journal of Curriculum Studies and Research, Teaching Exceptional Children, and The Reading Teacher. I have also written book chapters for edited books published by Routledge, Lexington Books, and Information Age Publishing.
Digital Literacies Computing & Artificial Intelligence
Alexander “Sasha” Sidorkin
sidorkin@csus.edu
Chief AI Officer
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Dr. Sidorkin is a university leader with international experience in innovation, institution building, and community engagement. He is a scholar of educational theory, economics of education, and educational policy. Dr. Sidorkin’s current role is as the Chief AI Officer at California State University Sacramento
Counseling
Bita Rivas
b.rivas@csus.edu
Associate Professor
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Dr. Rivas is an Associate Professor in the Counselor Education program, specializing in marriage, couple, and family counseling; clinical mental health counseling, and addiction counseling. She joined the Sacramento State Counselor Education program in 2018. She is currently serving as the Program Coordinator for Counselor Education.
Development Disabilities
Jean Gonsier-Gerdin
jgonsier@csus.edu
Professor
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Jean Ann Gonsier-Gerdin currently works at the Department of Geology, California State University, Sacramento. Jean does research in Special Education and Qualitative Social Research. Their most recent publication is 'Ecological Factors Affecting Access to General Education Content and Contexts for Students With Significant Disabilities'.
Educational Policy & Leadership
Frank Adamson
adamson@csus.edu
Associate Professor of Education Leadership and Policy Studies
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Frank Adamson, Ph.D. Dr. Adamson is an Associate Professor of Education Leadership and Policy Studies at California State University, Sacramento. He studies how different political and economic approaches, including education privatization, relate to education equity and opportunity. His latest volume, Realizing the Abidjan Principles on the Right to Education: Human Rights, Public Education, and the Role of Private Actors in Education, discusses the application of international human rights law in education. Dr. Adamson’s 2016 volume, Global Education Reform, compares the approaches of privatization and public investment to education policy across six countries. He has also studied the impact of charter school reform on students and communities in both Oakland and New Orleans, teacher salary differences in New York and California labor markets, has completed studies for the USDOE, OECD, IEA, and UNESCO, including analyses of PISA and TIMSS, and has published 4 books and over 50 publications. Dr. Adamson holds a MA in Sociology and a Ph.D. in International Comparative Education, both from Stanford University.
Sarah Jouganatos
sarah.jouganatos@csus.edu
Interim Associate Dean, Instruction and Student Success
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Associate professor Dr. Sarah M. Jouganatos has over 20 years of experience working in education both in the California TK-12 system and in higher education. She currently serves in the Graduate and Professional Studies Department at Sacramento State and is Program Coordinator of the TK-12 Educational Leadership program i EDLP.
Dr. Jouganatos’ focus is to support and guide her students toward competence with various leadership styles. Specifically, Dr Jouganatos emphasizes Transformative Leadership, an equity focused leadership style that can be used to support stakeholders and students in diverse educational systems. She works to empower future school leaders to challenge the status quo by collaboratively constructing equity-focused and racially-just schools.
Gender & Equity
Aaminah Norris
aaminah.norris@csus.edu
Associate Dean for Research and Engagement
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Dr. Aaminah Norris has more than 20 years of experience supporting schools and not-for-profit organizations in addressing issues of educational equity for low-income students from historically marginalized communities. Her background in education includes teaching, administration, and curriculum development for thousands of students in grades K-16. She researches, teaches, and advocates the digital literacies of girls and women from nondominant communities, with a particular interest in their STEM practices, Culturally Responsive Pedagogies particularly as they connect to maker education, and the pedagogies of Black women teachers. Currently, she is an interim Associate Dean in the College of Education at Sac State.
Intersectional identities & Schooling
Elizabeth Morgan
e.morgan@csus.edu
Assistant Professor and Director of the Docorate in Educational Leadership Program
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Dr. Elizabeth H. Morgan, is a passionate educator, researcher, and advocate for disability rights and inclusion, is committed to empowering BIPOC mothers and ensuring equitable access to services for their children. Her dedication began during her tenure as a K-12 teacher and administrator. Dr. Morgan's focus extends to the African continent, where she has undertaken significant work in Ghana, Kenya, and Morocco. Recently, she completed a global public health fellowship in Nairobi, solidifying her commitment to social justice. As a professor, Dr. Morgan strives to amplify marginalized voices through impactful community-based applied research projects and to prepare the next generation of educational leaders and disability rights advocates. Her website: https://www.drehmorgan.com offers a glimpse into her work.
Sheeva Sabati
s.sabati@csus.edu
Assistant Professor in the Doctorate in Educational Leadership Program
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Sheeva Sabati, Ph.D. is an educator, scholar, and activist. Her work brings together critical race, anti-colonial, and abolitionist feminisms to reimagine educational spaces and practices, with an emphasis on higher education. As an interdisciplinary scholar, she has also written about research ethics, community-engaged research, and the roots of California's water crisis (forthcoming). Before joining the Ed.D. faculty, Sheeva directed the Community-Based Action Research and Advocacy (or CARA) Program with Oakes College at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), in addition to teaching as a lecturer in the Education Department, the Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Program, and the Feminist Studies Department at UCSC.
Language & Literacy
Mei Shen
m.shen@csus.edu
Assistant Professor/Program Coordinator (Mild/Moderate Support Needs)
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Mei Shen is an assistant professor of special education at California State University, Sacramento. Mei Shen completed her doctoral degree in Special Education at Michigan State University, with a graduate specialization in language and literacy education. Her research focuses on literacy assessment and instruction for struggling students. She is particularly interested in instructional practices to help improve reading and/or writing performance for students with language-based learning disabilities.
Learning Sciences & Human Development
Cindy Collado
cindy.collado@csus.edu
Professor
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Cindy is currently Associate Professor at California State University- Sacramento where she restarted and runs the Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) teaching credential with masters program. She also teaches special education courses and supervises student teachers. She holds her doctorate in Special Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Before returning for her doctorate, she was an Early Childhood Special Education teacher co-teaching in inclusion preschool classrooms in the Chicago Public Schools. For 11 years, she held various positions in the Educational Assessment Clinic in the Special Education department at UIC, including graduate assistant work, teaching assessment courses, and coordinating the clinic. As a result, she has been drawn to assessment issues, particularly special educators' integration of formative assessment processes in support of culturally responsive practices.
Multicultural Education
Jana Noel
noelj@csus.edu
Professor Emeritus
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Jana Noel, PhD, has been a professor of education for over 20 at Sacramento State. Her fields are multicultural education, philosophy and history of education, and urban education. She has received state and national awards for her urban education programs and books.
Science & Mathematics
Jenna Porter
jmporter@csus.edu
Chair, Teaching Credentials, Professor
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Social Justice & Equity
Vajra Watson
v.watson@csus.edu
Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
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Dr. Vajra M. Watson is a professor of educational leadership and policy studies and the new Senior Associate Vice President of the Placer Innovation Hub at Sac State. Dr. Watson is a community-engaged scholar and transformative leader. She is the author four books: Learning to Liberate (2012), Transformative Schooling (2018), The Soul of Learning (2022), and Faith Made Flesh (2023), as well as dozens of journal articles and research studies. Watson is the Board President of United Playaz, Board Co-Chair of Kingmakers of Oakland, and serves on the Advisory Board for Sacramento Area Youth Speaks (SAYS) and the People’s Think Tank. Vajra is the recipient of Sacramento’s 40 Under 40 Leadership Award, the California Educational Research Association’s Annual Award, the Congressional Woman of the Year Award, the NBA Sacramento King’s Woman of Inspiration Award, the American Educational Research Association’s Social Impact Award and AERA’s Social Justice Leadership Award. Dr. Vajra Watson obtained her B.A. from UC Berkeley and received her Doctorate in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.
Social-emotional issues
Melissa Holland
mholland@csus.edu
Professor
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Melissa L. Holland, PhD, is a Professor and Program Coordinator of School Psychology at the California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) and has a private practice specializing in work with children, adolescents, and their families. She is both a licensed clinical psychologist and a certified school psychologist. Her publications and presentations focus on the emotional health of children and burnout and compassion fatigue for providers in the helping professions. She acts as a consultant in schools on the topic of social-emotional learning and the use of mindfulness, cognitive, and behavioral strategies with students. A particular focus is the use of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for school practitioners. She has worked extensively in the area of trauma and mental health in schools, including clinical work, trainings for school districts, and research-related activities.
Teacher Education & Research
Deidre Sessoms
sessoms@csus.edu
Interim Dean of the College of Education
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Dr. Deidre Sessoms, Interim Dean of the College of Education, holds a PhD from UC Davis in sociocultural studies in science education. Her professional interests include systems thinking, organizational change, science education, and recruiting and supporting minoritized individuals into teaching.
