Michelle D. Young, Ph.D., is the Dean of the Berkeley School of Education. An internationally recognized scholar of educational policy, leadership, and equity, her work has helped shape the field of Critical Policy Analysis (CPA) in education and deepen understanding of how power, politics, institutions, and leadership influence educational opportunity. Her scholarship examines how educational policies and leadership practices can either reproduce or challenge inequities and how educational systems can be transformed to better serve students, families, and communities.
Rocío Díaz Cerda is a PhD student in Education at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research sits at the intersection of gender, school culture, and educational inequality, with a focus on how young people navigate and experience school life in relation to prevailing gender norms. She is particularly interested in how educational policies and institutional practices shape those norms, and in what it would take for schools to become genuinely safer and more inclusive spaces for all students.
Her work draws on qualitative methodologies and engages with comparative and...
Alexis Meza is a Ph.D. Student in Education with an emphasis in the Critical Studies of Race, Class, and Gender at the Berkeley School of Education. He received his Bachelor's Degree from UC Riverside in Psychology and Education and a Master's from New York University (NYU) in Higher Education and Student Affairs. Under the tutelage of Dra. Gina Ann Garcia, he serves as the Graduate Student Researcher for the Higher Education Action Research for Transformation (HEART) Lab & Latinx Thriving Initiatives (LTI). In practice, Alexis works in partnership with the Latinx Student Resource...
Isaac A. Félix (he/him) is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a learning scientist whose research centers on education, learning, and culture across the México–U.S. border, with a particular focus on the Tijuana–San Diego region. Isaac earned a bachelor’s degree in Human Biology and Society and Chicana/o Studies from UCLA, and a Master of Arts in Education from UC Berkeley.
Anchored in cultural-historical approaches to learning and human development, Isaac’s dissertation employs qualitative methods to examine the expansive...
Elena Lycette DeNecochea is a Master's Graduate Student at the Berkeley School of Education (BSE) specializing in the Cultural Studies of Sport in Education (CSSE) program. She is an Assistant Coach for JV Football at El Camino Fundamental High School and a Substitute Teacher for the San Juan Unified School District.
They are a BSE Delegate for the Graduate Assembly. Previously, Chairperson of the Gender and Sexuality Commission (GASC) for UC Davis (ASUCD), the California State Student Association (CSSA) Liaison and Vice-Chair of Lobby Corps for (ASI) at Sacramento State University...
Nicole Cedillo is an accomplished educator, researcher, and advocate for equitable education with a rich background in history, feminist studies, and English language development. With a Master of Arts in History from Tufts University and a Bachelor of Arts in Feminist Studies and History from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Nicole has seamlessly woven academic knowledge with a passion for creating inclusive learning environments.
The journey into education began with Nicole earning a Single Subject English Language Arts certification from the Reach Institute for School...
Cristina S. Méndez (she/ella) is a Chicana educator, scholar, and poet. Her research focuses on the lived experiences and sense-making of Maya Mam women lideresas who organize for the vitality of their language, culture, and their communities across the United States, México, and Guatemala. Through her research and other collaborations, Cristina is committed to centering Indigenous, feminist, and decolonial epistemologies and methodologies. Cristina also engages in collaborative research with Mam community members on designing pedagogical resources for language reclamation, accessible at...
