Melbo Chair in Education Administration
Born in Minnesota, Dr. Irving R. Melbo graduated from New Mexico State College (AB), New Mexico Western College (BA) and received his Doctor of Education degree from UC Berkeley. He taught in a number of public schools in Minnesota as well as at New Mexico Western College and held a post-doctoral fellowship in the Advanced School of Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Later he joined the staff of the California State Department of Education and subsequently worked in the Oakland Public Schools and as the deputy superintendent of the Alameda County Schools. During this time, he held visiting professorships at the University of Kansas, University of Utah, University of Wisconsin, and the University of Hawaii.
Dr. Melbo joined University of Southern California in 1939 as an assistant professor of Educational Administration. He was later promoted to associate professor, professor, and, in 1945, chair of the Department of Educational Administration. He was appointed dean of the School of Education in 1953 and served in that position until 1973.
An acknowledged authority on executive leadership and the organization and structure of school districts, Dr. Melbo also worked as a consultant to many state and national professional associations, legislative committees and worked directly with hundreds of school districts. He held memberships on the Education Committee of the California State Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Directors of the Southwest Regional Education Laboratory, the Committee for the Accreditation of Teacher Education of the California State Board of Education, and the Policies Commission of the California Association of School Administrators.
To honor Dr. Melbo following his retirement, several professional organizations affiliated with the School of Education established the first endowed chair in his name. EDUCARE, the USC Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa, Education Alumni, Honorary Association of Women in Education (HAWE), and the Society of Delta Epsilon announced the endowed chair at a dinner held in Dr. Melbo’s honor on May 16, 1974. Dr. Melbo, as dean emeritus, was appointed as the first incumbent of the chair and held this position for the 1974-1975 academic year.
The Melbo Chair: Maria Ott, PhD ’94, was selected to serve as the Irving R. and Virginia A. Melbo Chair in Education Administration and stepped into the role July 2022. Ott initiated the Melbo Lectures to honor the legacy of leadership established during the tenure of Irving R. Melbo who served as Dean from 1953-1973. Ott states, “USC Rossier has a long history of preparing educational leaders, and I’m honored to serve as Melbo Chair.”
In the lobby of Waite Phillips Hall, you can see the bronze plaque that memorializes the years that Irving R. Melbo served as Dean of the School of Education. Have you ever asked how the building came to occupy this prominent spot? Have you ever asked what the school of education was doing in the challenging years between 1953 and 1973? Those were years of turmoil, and education was impacted in many ways. Dean Irving R. Melbo was at the helm for those important and challenging years. If you want to know more and be an expert on the history of the school of education, you are invited to click on this link. The link will take you to a digital version of The Melbo Years: A History of the School of Education of the University of Southern California, 1953-1973, by Mary C. Lane, Ed.D. housed at the USC Thomas and Dorthy Leavey Library. Your questions will be answered as you take a trip back to learn how the school of education started on its journey to be a powerhouse of educational leadership across California, the U.S., and globally.
5th Annual Melbo Lecture
When Life Gives You Lemons, Plant the Seeds, District Leaders Share Innovative Strategies for Solving Complex Challenges
This lecture will bring together San Diego Unified Superintendent Fabiola Bagula, Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Andrés E. Chait, and scholar, principal and USC Rossier alumna Rochelle Espitia-Barrios to explore how education leaders approach complex challenges while keeping equity, innovation, creativity and systems thinking at the forefront.
November 10, 2026
USC Hotel
Lecture 4:00 p.m. | Reception 6:00 p.m
Speaker Bios
Fabiola “Fabi” Bagula PhD, serves as Superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District, the second largest district in California, serving over 95,000 students and employing more than 15,000 staff. Under her leadership, San Diego Unified has emerged as the highest-performing urban school district in both California and the nation for two consecutive years, an achievement that reflects her unwavering commitment to excellence, equity, and innovation at scale.
A proud product of San Diego’s border community, Bagula’s bicultural upbringing informs her deeply human-centered and visionary approach to leadership. She is the first Latina and only the third woman to serve as superintendent of the district—an honor she carries with a profound sense of responsibility to ensure students see themselves reflected in systems of power and possibility.
Across her career (as a teacher, instructional coach, principal, assistant superintendent, senior director of equity, deputy superintendent, and now superintendent). Dr. Bagula has built a reputation for leading transformative change while cultivating trust across diverse communities. She leads one of the most progressive school systems in the country, advancing bold initiatives that redefine public education, including pioneering innovative housing solutions that have tripled employee housing capacity in California without use of district funds while preserving public land and creating long-term community investment.
Bagula is a Yale-Broad Leadership Fellow and a participant in the USC Urban Superintendents Academy. She holds a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies from the University of San Diego, where her research focused on leadership and identity formation. A published author, her work appears in multiple academic and practitioner texts, with her forthcoming 2026 chapter on emancipatory leadership continuing to push the field toward more just and humanizing systems.
A sought-after speaker and facilitator, Bagula engages audiences nationally and internationally (Switzerland, Austria, Italy, England) on topics including systemic equity, authentic leadership, improvement science, and leading through complexity with courage and care.
Andrés E. Chait, brings decades of experience as an educator and district leader. From kindergarten teacher to principal, Local District Superintendent to Chief of School Operations, he has built a strong track record of student-centered leadership and operational excellence.
As Superintendent of Local District Northeast, he oversaw a diverse portfolio of schools and led efforts to strengthen instructional quality, improve attendance, and support school leaders in driving academic growth. Under his leadership, schools in the region focused on targeted interventions, expanded student supports, and deeper engagement with families and communities.
In his role as Chief of School Operations, Mr. Chait was responsible for ensuring that schools across Los Angeles Unified had the operational infrastructure necessary to support teaching and learning. This included oversight of critical areas such as school safety, transportation, nutrition services, and daily operational systems. He worked closely with principals and central office teams to streamline processes, strengthen campus safety protocols, improve service delivery, and align operational systems with the District’s academic priorities — ensuring that schools remained safe, well-supported environments where students and staff can thrive.
He also oversaw District operations during a particularly challenging period, including the impacts of the Palisades and Eaton fires and heightened immigration enforcement activity across the region. During these events, he helped coordinate cross-departmental response efforts to maintain school continuity, support affected families, and reinforce safety and stability for students and staff across the District.
His leadership across both roles reflects a consistent commitment to equity, collaboration, and creating the conditions for schools and students to thrive.
Rochelle Espitia-Barrios EdD ’26 is the Principal of George M. Shirakawa Sr. Elementary School in the Franklin-McKinley School District in San José, California, and a professor at San José State University, where she teaches in the master’s and teaching credential programs. She earned her EdD in K–12 Leadership from the USC Rossier School of Education.
Her research and leadership focus on equity-centered systems change, organizational trust, and the human impact of school consolidation and declining enrollment. Her dissertation, Leading the Way With Equity and Trust: Superintendent Strategies for School Consolidation in California Public Schools, examined the experiences of 15 California superintendents navigating school closure and consolidation. Espitia also served on her district’s School Consolidation Committee while leading a school community through closure, bringing both practitioner and research perspectives to this complex challenge.
Espitia is a USC Dean’s Superintendents Advisory Group (DSAG) Scholar, AASA Aspiring Superintendent Scholarship recipient, USC Rossier Hagen Women’s Leadership Fellow, CALSA Cohort 22 Protégé, and ACSA Region 8 Elementary Principal of the Year. She also serves on the ACSA Region 8 Executive Board, supporting educational leaders throughout Santa Clara County.
Pedro A. Noguera is the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of the Rossier School of Education and a Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Southern California. Prior to joining USC, Noguera served as a Distinguished Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Before joining the faculty at UCLA, he served as a tenured professor and holder of endowed chairs at New York University, Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of 15 books. His most recent books are Common Schooling: Conversations About the Tough Questions and Complex Issues Confronting K-12 Education in the United States Today (Teachers College Press winner of the Association of American Publishers 2022 Prose Award) with Rick Hess and City Schools and the American Dream: Still Pursuing the Dream (Teachers College Press) with Esa Syeed. In 2022 he was ranked 3rd in the nation for influence and impact in the field of education, by Education Week.
Maria Gutierrez Ott holds the Irving R. and Virginia A. Melbo Chair in Education Administration at the USC Rossier School of Education. In addition to her years as a classroom teacher and site and central office administrator, Dr. Ott served more than 40 years as an educator in K-12 urban systems. That includes, fourteen years as a superintendent and five years as senior deputy superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Her transition to higher education was an opportunity to apply her practitioner experiences to the preparation of leaders for school systems, colleges and universities, and other organizations.
In 2019, Dr. Ott was asked to advise LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner and his senior leadership team as Executive Mentor in Residence. Dr. Ott was approved to spend half of her USC assignment working directly with LAUSD leaders. This two-year experience moved Dr. Ott into the work of the second largest school district during major transformation of the district into a Communities of Schools structure. As an advisor to the leadership team, Dr. Ott provided connections between USC Rossier expertise and the work of the school system.
Ott designed and launched the USC Rossier Urban Superintendents Academy in 2015 in partnership with AASA to prepare diverse and equity-minded leaders for K-12 system leadership. She serves as a member of the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (ALAS) Board of Directors to promote the goal of advancing diverse leaders who work to close opportunity and achievement gaps for Latino and youth of color. She was honored with the 2021-2022 ALAS Lifetime Achievement Award and received the USC Rossier Dean’s Superintendents Advisory Group (DSAG) Achievement Award in 2017. Ott is recognized for her leadership and advocacy for bilingual education and programs for English language learners, leadership development for women, and public-private partnerships in education. She is a founding member of the California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators (CALSA).
Her work on cultural proficiency is detailed in her books, A Culturally Proficient Society Begins in School: Leadership for Equity (2011) and Now What? Confronting Uncomfortable Truths About Inequity in Schools (2023) with co-authors Carmella S. Franco and Darline P. Robles. Ott has presented to national audiences on the topic of her books and continues to contribute to the educational literature about the importance of cultural proficiency in closing achievement gaps. She is a member of the Ethical Educators Panel for AASA’s School Administrator Magazine and contributes ethical advice in response to real cases encountered by superintendents in their school districts.
4th Annual Irving R. and Virginia A. Melbo Chair Lecture
“Bringing Educational Opportunity to Life for Students Today” featured keynote speaker Kimberly Jenkins Robinson and discussants Karla V. Estrada,Guadalupe Guerrero and Pedro A. Noguera to understand how legal protections can empower educators to build schools grounded in belonging and equity. Read the News Article.
3rd Annual Irving R. and Virginia A. Melbo Chair Lecture
Titled, “Navigating the Future: Mastering AI as a Leadership Tool,” Dean Pedro A. Noguera and Melbo Chair Maria G. Ott were joined by leaders in education, Stephen J. Aguilar, Anthony B. Maddox and Jerry Almendarez to share how AI is enhancing operations, decision-making and learning in schools. Read the News Article.
2nd Annual Irving R. and Virginia A. Melbo Chair Lecture
Led by Maria G. Ott, the Irving R. Melbo Chair, the Melbo Chair Lecture revolved around the theme of “Leading in Times of Radical Change: Finding Common Ground.” View the 2023 Program and read the News Article.
The Inaugural Irving R. and Virginia A. Melbo Chair Lecture
Education leaders and administrators from Southern California convened for USC Rossier’s first Melbo Lecture to discuss the current reality of education. View the 2022 Program and read the News Article.
Women of DSAG Virginia Archer Melbo
The Women of DSAG are committed to supporting leadership networking and talent development for women within the education community. They honor the legacy of Virginia A. Melbo by bringing women leaders together to share expertise, promote mentoring, and foster relationship building. The Virginia A. Melbo Networking Event is a recognized opportunity for women leaders to come together and develop their talents.
2027 event information coming soon
Giving
Give to the USC Irving R. and Virginia A. Melbo Trustee Chair in Education