Professor of the Practice of Education
Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Concentration: Teacher Education
Expertise: Teacher education for urban schools, situating special education within the larger framework of diversity in the reform of teacher education, inclusive teacher education, and dual licensure programs in teacher education...additional information

Email: pugach@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 821-3415

Curriculum Vitae & Publications

Dr. Marleen Pugach's research and scholarship take place at the intersection of teacher education for urban schools, diversity, and inclusive education, with a commitment to assuring that issues related to special education are always situated within the wider context of diversity in the reform of teacher education. Before joining the Rossier faculty, she served as a professor in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she directed the elementary/middle teacher education program for urban schools. From 2003-2011 she was co-principal investigator of the teacher education reform project Teachers for a New Era at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. She was a member of the American Educational Research Association's Panel on Research and Teacher Education, Studying Teacher Education, writing on the preparation of general education teachers for teaching students who have disabilities. She is an expert on the history of collaboration in teacher education between general and special education.

Dr. Pugach will be leading the collaborative research agenda at USC to study the unique, urban-focused MAT@USC teacher education program. Her other current projects are focused on the relationship between the preparation of general and special education teachers for urban schools. In a series of related studies, she is investigating how, as a policy response to the persistent low achievement of students who have disabilities, dual-certification programs of teacher education are conceptualized in relationship to the full range of student diversity--rather than solely as a response to students who are identified as having disabilities.

Dr. Pugach earned a BA in Art History from Mount Holyoke College, an MS in Education from USC, and a PhD in Teacher Education and Special Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Concentration: Educational Psychology
Expertise: Social media, cyberbullying, racial discrimination, identity, adolescent development in urban schools and online contexts.
Awards: 2012 AERA Early Career Contribution Award- Committee on Scholars of Color, Diverse Magazine's Top Emerging Scholars under 40, Weintraub Faculty Prize for Innovation in the Use of Technology for Learning, YWCA Racial and Social Justice Award

Email: btynes@usc.edu

Brendesha Tynes is an associate professor of Educational Psychology at the USC Rossier School of Education. Her research focuses on the role of the Internet in child and adolescent development with special attention to academic performance, including STEM, mental health and behavior. She is also interested in digital and media literacy interventions.

Dr. Tynes is principal investigator of a mixed-method, longitudinal study of online racial discrimination and the resources youth have to buffer the deleterious effects of online victimization on psychological, behavioral and academic outcomes. This study is funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and is guided by her integrative model of the effects of perceived online racial discrimination. This model draws on the research literature as well as risk and resilience frameworks. More specifically, it uses a protective factor model to explain the differential outcomes among adolescents exposed to similar risk levels. Although the internet may threaten social identity and adjustment, particularly for adolescents of color, individual (e.g. coping) and contextual (e.g. parental support) factors mitigate such risks. This grant is for $1.4 million and will be performed from 2010 to 2014.

Dr. Tynes, a former high school history and global studies teacher, earned a B.A. in History from Columbia University, a M.A. in Learning Sciences from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in Psychological Studies in Education from UCLA. She is the recipient of a Ford Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowships and was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the American Educational Research Association. She has also been a Research Fellow in the Department of Society, Human Development and Health at Harvard University.

Dr. Tynes has published widely, including in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Cyberpsychology & Behavior, the Journal of Adolescent Health and Developmental Psychology. She has also been cited in numerous media outlets, including the New York Times, Newsweek and Woman's Day. She is the co-editor of the Handbook of African American Psychology and does workshops and keynote addresses for academics, community members, teachers and mental health professionals on adolescent development and social media, with a focus on urban youth.

Before her current position at USC Rossier, Dr. Tynes held assistant and associate professor positions in African American Studies, Educational Psychology and Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Concentration: Education Psychology
Expertise: Learning Theory, Knowledge Construction, Conceptual Change Learning, Literacy Acquisition, Assessment, and Comprehension...additional information

Email: gsinatra@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 740-1622

Curriculum Vitae & Publications

Dr. Gale Sinatra, Professor of Education, joined the Rossier faculty in July 2011. She comes from her previous appointment as Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she served on the faculty since 2000.

Sinatra is the outgoing Editor of the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 15 journal, Educational Psychologist. She is currently Vice President of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division C, Learning and Instruction, and a Fellow of both APA and AERA.

Her recent research focuses on understanding the cognitive and motivational processes that lead to successful learning in science. Specifically, Sinatra focuses on the role of motivation and emotion in teaching and learning about controversial topics, such as biological evolution and climate change. Sinatra developed a model of conceptual change learning, which describes how motivational factors contribute to the likelihood that individuals will change their thinking about a scientific topic.

She is currently Co-PI on a National Science Foundation grant exploring the challenges of teaching and learning about biological evolution in the US, which include emotional and motivational barriers. She is also Co-PI on an NSF EPSCoR Climate Infrastructure grant titled "Losing the Lake," which is developing a simulation to teach middle-school children about the effect of climate change on declining Lake Mead water levels.

Her co-edited volume with Dr. Paul Pintrich, Intentional Conceptual Change, examines the students' role in facilitating their own knowledge change. Sinatra received her B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Provost's Professor of Communication, Cinematic Arts, Education, and Journalism
Ph.D.; University of Wisconsin - Madison

Concentration: Education Psychology
Expertise: Media Literacy, Criticism, Networks, Popular Culture, Public Culture...additional information
E-Mail: hjenkins@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 740-9727
Bio: http://annenberg.usc.edu/Faculty/Communication%20and%20Journalism/JenkinsH.aspx

Concentration: K-12 Education Policy
Expertise: Expert in urban education and program development...additional information

E-mail: dprobles@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 740-3537

Curriculum Vitae & Publications

Darline Robles, the former superintendent of Los Angeles County Office of Education, joined the USC Rossier School of Education as Professor of Clinical Education in 2010. In addition to teaching in the school's doctoral and masters programs, Dr. Robles is responsible for the development of a new hybrid master's degree program in school leadership, to be delivered both online and on-campus. She leads the program development effort in conjunction with faculty and external organizations and experts.

Dr. Robles was appointed County Superintendent of Schools in June 2002, and she led the nation's largest regional education service agency, serving 93 school districts and 55 joint power agencies that educate 1.7 million students from pre-kindergarten through community college, until her retirement in August 2010. She was the first woman and Latina to serve in the post. As superintendent, Dr. Robles focused on at-risk and special needs students in schools run by the Office of Education, and directed services to cash-strapped districts, particularly those with low-performing schools. She also led a reorganization of the Office's highly lauded Head Start preschool program.

Prior to this position, Robles served as Superintendent of Schools for Salt Lake City School District from 1995 to 2002, where she was successful in closing the achievement gap and significantly reducing the dropout rate, and as Superintendent of Schools for Montebello Unified School District from 1991 to 1995.

Over her 30-plus-year career, Dr. Robles has received many recognitions and honors for service to her community and her work to ensure a quality education for all children. In October 2009, she was named one of the nation's top 100 influential Hispanic Americans by Hispanic Business magazine.

Dr. Robles received her Ph.D. in Education Policy and Administration from the University of Southern California is 1994.

Concentration: Higher Education

Email: merriman@usc.edu
Bio: http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/leadership/lynette_merriman.html

Concentration: Teacher Education

E-Mail: mescalan@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 740-3711

Curriculum Vitae & Publications

Dr. Michael Escalante joined the USC Rossier School of Education as Executive in Residence after more than three decades in public education. Most recently, he served as superintendent of Glendale Unified School District, where he oversaw approximately 27,000 students, a $280 million budget, and 31 K-12 schools in a diverse community. Under Escalante's leadership, the district saw student API scores rise year over year. Prior to that post, Escalante served as superintendent of Fullerton Joint Union High School District from 1997 to 2004. At Rossier, Escalante teaches doctoral courses, is involved in dissertation thematic groups, and participates in recruitment and conversion events for the Ed.D. program. He has an active role in the District Superintendent's Advisory Group (DSAG), consults with the MAT program, and serves as the liaison between the program and school districts.

Concentration: Teacher Education

E-Mail: hoctor@usc.edu

Curriculum Vitae & Publications

Marge Hoctor is a former teacher and an administrator in a large K-12 urban school district in Orange County. After nine years in the classroom, she went to the district office where she was the administrator for a variety of district departments/programs including K-12 Technology in Education, K-12 Gifted and Talented Education (GATE), and K-2 School Libraries.

During that time, she held leadership positions in state and national professional educational organizations - Computer-Using Educators (CUE), the California Association for the Gifted (CAG), and The National Association for Gifted Children. (NAGC). She held committee positions in CUE and NAGC and various statewide positions on the CAG Board of Directors.

In addition to teaching in the MAT program at USC, she provides instructional consultant services for an educational software company and for the Technology Department at the Orange County Department of Education.