Faculty Council

San Diego State University

Olivia Obeso is an Assistant Professor of Literacy Education in the School of Education at Cal Poly San Luis Obsipo. Her research and practice in teacher education respond to sociopolitical factors that teachers encounter when learning to teach language and literacy. She focuses on supporting pre-service and early career teachers to engage in reflective practice and build allies in their communities in order to sustain linguistically equitable instruction.

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. In addition to his professor role, Dr. Grasso is also the Director of the L.A. Times Literacy Center on CSUN’s campus. The L.A. Times Literacy Center provides graduate students with opportunities to complete clinical hours in literacy assessment and instruction, working with elementary aged children located on and around CSUN’s campus.

Dr. Adeli Ynostroza Ochoa is an Assistant Professor at California State University, Bakersfield. She teaches courses that focus on multilingualism in classrooms, literacy for dual language immersion, and interdisciplinary social studies methods. She is a poet, collector of thoughts, and daughter of farmers. She embraces a transnational & translingual identity, de allá, de aquí y todos los lugares intermedios (from there, from here and all the places in between). Her research interests include biliteracy teacher identity development, integration of translanguaging and STEM, transcultural practices in dual language immersion, and content critical analysis of children’s books.

Lasisi Ajayi is a Professor of Literacy/Language Education and Chair of the Department of Teacher Education and Foundations, Watson College of Education, California State San Bernardino. Professor Ajayi has served in diverse academic leadership positions, including Multiple Subject Credential Program Coordinator, WCOE Dean’s Fellow, Interim Chair of TEF Department, and Permanent Department Chair. Professor Ajayi is also a productive researcher who has published more than 60 journal articles, book chapters in multimedia and multimodal literacies, critical literacy, social justice teaching, second language acquisition, and teacher preparation. In recent years, Professor Ajayi has developed research and professional interest in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). He has participated in ESD conferences around the world. In addition, his publications are cited worldwide.

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 in the Department of Teacher Education at California State University, East Bay. His research is centered on biliteracy for all multilingual learners. His recent co-authored books include Breaking Down the Monolingual Wall; Essential Shifts for Multilingual Learners' Success (2023, Corwin Press) and Community-Owned Knowledge; The Promise of Collaborative Action Research (2022, Peter Lang Publishers). He is a past president of the California Association for Bilingual Teacher Education.

Kai Greene, Ph.D. CCC-SLP is an associate professor and a licensed speech-language pathologist at California State University, Dominguez Hills in the Department of Special Education, College of Education. His undergraduate, credential, and graduate courses address topics such as atypical and typical development, inclusionary practices, and speech-language-communication disorders in K-12 multilingual populations. He served as a task force member for the UC/CSU Collaborative on Neuroscience, Diversity, and Learning and Dyslexia. After four decades of service as an educational practitioner across multiple capacities, his curiosity to learn and better understand how teachers teach and how students learn continues.

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.

Dr. Char Moffit is an Associate Professor at California State University, Chico. Her research interests include: the integration of literacy and science in elementary school using inquiry to teach students to be thinkers and doers; Children's literature that focuses on ecological and social justice issues; and supporting new rural educators. She teaches the following courses: Multicultural Children's Literature, Elementary Science Methods, Elementary Literacy Methods, and Rural and Small School Education.

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.