Faculty Council

San Diego State University

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

San Jose State University

Maxine Carlson, a RICA specialist and faculty member with CalStateTEACH, supports teacher candidates and Induction programs. Trained as a Reading Recovery interventionist at Stanford University she is focused on literacy and English Language Development, viewing literacy as a civil right. An award winning author, Maxine strives to empower children through their unique story and voice.

Cal State Channel Islands

Dr. Isauro M. Escamilla is Assistant Professor in the Elementary Education Department at San Francisco State University where he has taught graduate and undergraduate courses on children’s language development in multilingual settings; teacher inquiry in early childhood education; and more recently, language arts and Spanish Heritage Language. He has authored articles and book chapters on teacher action research  supporting emergent bilingual children across the curriculum.  

Sonoma State University

Noah Asher Golden is an Associate Professor of Secondary Teacher Education at California State University, Long Beach. His research is grounded in literacy practices and identities, and is situated within critical and sociocultural approaches to literacies scholarship. He teaches courses on Secondary Literacy and Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Pedagogy.

Dr. Dominic Grasso is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Elementary Education at California State University, Northridge. 

CSU Bakersfield

Dr. Lasisi Ajayi is a Professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Foundations at California State University San Bernardino.  

Cal State LA

Dr. Madeleine Mejia is an Assistant Professor at the California State University Fullerton in the College of Education. She teaches courses that focus on diagnosing and re-mediating students' reading and writing needs; critical literacy; diversity and critical self-reflective practices. Her research interests include making space for students’ voice in the learning and teaching process; teachers’ roles and active agency in professional development/ inquiry into professional practice; critical literacy and equity education.

Dr. Marcy Merrill is the chair of the graduate program in Language and Literacy in the School of Education at California State University, Sacramento. She teaches graduate students and preservice English teachers. She taught high school English for 12 years before becoming a professor. Dr. Merrill has been a member of the leadership team for the Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum since 2005 and serves as director of the College and Career Readiness Center at CSUS. 

Dr. Lyn Scott is an Associate Professor at California State University East Bay in the Teacher Education Department. 

CSU Dominguez Hills

Dr. Derek R. Riddle is a faculty member at CSU, Stanislaus and co-coordinator for the Single Subject Credential Program. He is also the accreditation coordinator for the College of Education at his campus. Dr. Riddle teaches the literacy methods courses for single subject credential candidates, and his research interest related to literacy focuses on navigating teacher religious beliefs with their use of contemporary young adult literature in the classroom.

CSU Chico

Dr. Joanna Wong is Associate Professor in Elementary Education in the College of Education at CSU Monterey Bay. Her teaching and research interests include culturally and linguistically sustaining literacy pedagogy and teacher education to serve ethnically diverse and multilingual learners. 

Christiane Wood, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Literacy Education at California State University San Marcos. Dr. Wood is the Co-coordinator of the Multiple Subject and Master of Arts Reading, Language, and Literacy Programs. Some of Dr. Wood's scholarly interests include early childhood literacy, new literacies,  play/tinkering, arts integration, STEAM + Literacy, social justice, and educational leadership for change. Dr. Wood teaches in the Multiple Subject Teacher Preparation and the Master of Arts in Reading, Language, and Literacy Programs. 

Dr. Peter Olson is an Assistant Professor in the College of Education and Integrative Studies at Cal Poly Pomona.

Dr. Marisol Ruiz is a Professor in the School of Education at Cal Poly Humboldt. She is the co-author of Mirrored Repressions: Students and inmates in a colonial landscape (Journal of Critical Education, 2018, 9(7), 1-23) and Becoming Math-lingual: An exploration of MALITLA model for improving mathematical vocabulary (Journal of Mathematics Education, 2022, 15(1), 16-34). She has also created a free, critical, multicultural and ethnic studies literacy curriculum for teachers on the CA NAME website in 2020-2021.  Dr. Ruiz is also the co-editor of Courageous Cuentos: A journal of counternarratives Volume 4 (2021) and Volume 5 (2022).

Dr. Imelda Basurto is a Professor in the Department of Literacy, Early Education, Bilingual & Special Education at Fresno State University.