Faculty

Joint Doctoral Program, Ph.D. in Education

The faculty at San Diego State and Claremont Graduate University bring diverse research and teaching interests to the study of democratic schooling, social justice and diversity in education. Among the members of the faculty, the student will find rich resources of expertise in such areas as public policy, organizational theory and leadership, curriculum and instruction, language development, qualitative and quantitative analysis, and bilingual and cross-cultural education. With their guidance, students may prepare themselves for qualifying examinations and for dissertation research in a wide range of areas.

Marva Cappello, Ph.D.

Program Director

Ivana Amaya-Guerra, M.A.

Program Coordinator

San Diego State University

In addition to the director, the following members of the faculty in the SDSU College of Education are available to assist doctoral students with initial advising or with qualifying examinations and preparation of the dissertation.

The following faculty can serve as a dissertation committee chair:

Andre Branch
Sera Hernandez
Vanja Lazarevic
Margarita Machado-Casas
Gerald Monk
Yasemin Qian Turan
Marissa Vasquez
Meredith Vaughn (Houle)
James Wright
Christopher Brum
Nola Butler-Byrd
Marva Cappello
Lauren Collins
Chuck Degeneffe
Eric Felix
Nancy Frey
Sarah Garrity
Tanya Gaxiola Serrano
Mari Guillermo
Laura Hall
Felisha Herrera Villarreal
Nick Johnson
Bonnie Kraemer
Lisa Lamb
James Marshall
Melissa Navarro
Vicki Park
Donna Ross
Toni Saia
Kathleen (Katie) Schenkel
Jessica Suhrheinrich
Mark Tucker
Paul Luelmo
Saul Maldonado
Nellie Tran
Douglas Fisher
Frank Harris, III
Cristina Alfaro
Jose Nuñez Estrada Jr.
Cynthia Park

The following faculty can serve as a dissertation committee member only:

Vincent Pompei
Melina Melgarejo
Regina Brandon
Juan Camarena
Alberto Esquinca
Alejandro Gonzalez Ojeda
Lin Hsien-Chang
Paz Jennica
Brittany Marshall
Patricia Sanchez Lizardi
Jennifer Karnopp
marcela polanco
Devanshi Unadkat
Xiwei Zhu
Idara Essien-Wood
Monica Baldonado

This list is updated annually and includes faculty approved to serve on dissertation committees for the 2025–2026 academic year.

These members of the faculty in the CGU School of Educational Studies are available to assist doctoral students with initial advising or with qualifying examinations and preparation of the dissertation.