Faculty

Sarah Capitelli came to USF from Stanford where she completed her PhD in Educational Linguistics. Before her work at Stanford, Dr. Capitelli taught elementary school for seven years, two in Venezuela and five in East Oakland in a Spanish-bilingual classroom. She is particularly interested in better understanding and improving conditions for learning and teaching in linguistically segregated schools.

Xornam Apedoe is an associate professor in the Department of Learning and Instruction at the University of San Francisco. Her research has generally been focused on new areas of STEM learning (e.g., how to integrate engineering into science classrooms) and strategies for addressing the inequities of who participates in STEM+C (computer science) learning environments (e.g., the use of real-world design problems that both deepen science and are compelling topics to diverse students). She has a PhD...

Rick Ayers is an associate professor of education focusing on English language arts and secondary education, and a faculty member of the urban education and social justice cohort. Professor Ayers focuses on curriculum and pedagogy, with particular emphasis on equity, social justice, and decolonial approaches to education. His writing, in blogs as well as publications, is on community-engaged scholarship and community organizing.

Professor Ayers is the author or co-author of five books...

Noah Borrero is a professor in the teacher education department, with a focus in urban education and social justice. He teaches courses in bilingual/bicultural education, teaching for diversity and social justice, critical pedagogy, and action research. Professor Borrero's scholarship focuses on promoting equity in schools through focusing on students' and teachers' cultural assets.

After earning a doctorate from Stanford University in 2006, that same year Professor Borrero helped develop the...

Quinn is a Director of Computational Thinking Research at the national education non-profit Digital Promise in San Mateo. His research at Digital Promise examines the effectiveness of different activities by which to introduce students to programming and how computational thinking (CT) can support core curricula coursework. His research has been supported by a number of state and federal grants, including awards from the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Education. He has...

Patrick Camangian, PhD is a professor of Teacher Education at the University of San Francisco. Patrick’s interdisciplinary research on humanizing education intersects critical and culturally relevant pedagogy, critical literacy, and health science research. Patrick pursues these areas of research to improve teacher quality, capacity, and retention, as well as to inform policies and practices impacting urban schools and communities. He has been working in schools since 1997, continuing in the...

Dr. Cheryl Jones-Walker is an Associate Dean and Associate Professor in the Teacher Education Department. She began her professional career as a fourth grade teacher in the Bronx, NY, and she continued teaching in a Boston area independent school and then internationally in Gabon, Central Africa. Prior to doctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, she worked at the Center for Collaborative Education (CCE) in Boston, a non-profit organization committed to...

Helen Maniates, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Teacher Education and coordinator of the Master of Arts of Teaching Reading Program in the School of Education at the University of San Francisco. As a community engaged scholar, her work addresses both “schooled” literacy and out-of-school literacy practices. She works in partnership with local community-based organizations to provide an annual summer reading program for K-8 students that addresses summer learning loss. Her research projects...

Judith L. Pace is a Professor in the Teacher Education Department at the University of San Francisco’s School of Education. She is a qualitative researcher who examines classroom teaching and curriculum — focusing on social studies — and its relationship to diversity, democracy, and sociopolitical contexts. She has studied classroom authority relationships and academic engagement, teaching for democratic citizenship in government classes, social studies under high stakes accountability, and...

Dr. Farima Pour-Khorshid was born and raised in the Bay Area where she later taught at the elementary grade levels in her community for over a decade. She has supported educators locally, nationally, and internationally through her roles as a university professor, teacher supervisor, educational consultant, and community organizer. She is committed to abolition and healing-centered engagement within and outside of the field of education. Much of her work is rooted in healing centered initiatives...

Professor Ruchi Rangnath received a doctorate degree from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a Bay Area native and has taught in elementary schools across San Jose and New York City. Her research focuses on critical literacy, humanizing practices, ethnic studies, and social justice teaching and learning in elementary classrooms.

Her recent books include, Planting the Seed of Equity: Ethnic Studies and Social Justice in the K-2 Classroom, Preparing to Teach Social Studies for Social...

Joy Lopez is the Director of Technology at Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton, CA. She oversees the technology department for preschool through high school. Sacred Heart has iPads in carts for grades 1-4, and 1:1 iPads in grades 6-12. Sacred Heart Prep's iPad program is an Apple Distinguished Program for 2012-2013.

Before Sacred Heart, Dr. Lopez launched the one-to-one program at Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, CA and launched their first online courses. She has been instrumental in...

Diana Neebe is an instructor in the Master of Educational Technology program at the University of San Francisco’s School of Education, and is the director of faculty development for an independent college preparatory school in Silicon Valley. Dr. Neebe has taught high school English Language Arts for over a decade in both public and independent schools. She is the co-author of Power Up: Making the Shift to 1:1 Teaching and Learning (2015). Her research interests rest at the intersection of...

Kevin Zaragoza has been coined a “jack of all trades.” Bringing his passion for technology, design, and instruction into the ESL classroom fulfills his days after joining the English for Art Purposes (EAP) department at Academy of Art University in spring 2020.

Aside from teaching, Kevin also works as a webmaster for the College of Alameda LSLA department and provides his own private trainings/consultations in multiple subjects that fall under ESL, technology, and design. He stays heavily up...