Ed.D JDP Students

Cohort 12 Winter 2016

Martin Casas is an equity driven Principal at San Pasqual High School with experience in Instructional and Curricular leadership, Educational Assessment, Master Scheduling, Data Analysis, and Public Policy.   Most recently, he served as Assistant Principal at Rancho Bernardo High School in the Poway Unified School District. Mr. Casas has also served as their District Director for AVID – he holds a B.A. in Economics from San Diego State University, a Master’s degree in Cross-Cultural Education from National University, and a Clear Administrative Credential from Point Loma Nazarene.  In addition, Mr. Casas brings years of classroom experience as a Social Science teacher, soccer coach and TOSA (Teacher On Special Assignment) while at Eastlake High School. On his free time, Mr. Casas enjoys: spending time with family, play soccer and basketball with his friends from high school, and is an avid reader and lover of music.

He is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) focused on Educational Leadership and Administration, from the University of California, San Diego, and Cal State San Marcos.

Michelle Sadrena Clark is the Project Co-director of the Deeper Learning Hub, a national practitioner hub whose mission is to spread deeper learning practices and ensure that more students across the country are achieving deeper learning outcomes. She is co-leading the Share Your Learning Campaign which aims to spread student-centered practices (exhibitions, student led conferences, and presentations of learning) to 5 million students by 2020. She also works for the Center for Research on Equity and Innovation at High Tech High’s Graduate School of Education as Coordinator of High Tech High submissions to Education Week’s Learning Deeply blog, lead planner and facilitator of the annual Equity Deep Dive, and a Culturally Responsive Pedagogy Coach.

Michelle earned her Master’s in Pacific International Affairs, with a career concentration in International Development and a regional specialization in Latin America at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California, San Diego. Prior to entering graduate school, Michelle lived in Bisai, Japan for two years, teaching English and American culture at public junior high schools while engaging in performance dance and theater. Michelle earned her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Irvine, with a major in International Studies and a minor in Clinical Psychology. During this time she also attended La Universidad Católica Pontificia in Santiago, Chile for one semester. Proficient in Spanish and conversational Japanese, Michelle enjoys international travel and leaves the country at least twice a year.  While working at High Tech, Michelle has taken students to Washington D.C., the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, the U.K., France, Panama, and Costa Rica.  Michelle earned her Certification in Dance at Palomar College and was awarded 2013 Dancer of the Year. A winner of numerous accolades for competitive public speaking through Toastmasters International, her most notable speaking engagements include the 2014 USC Shoah Foundation Gala when Steven Spielberg honored President Barack Obama with the Ambassador for Humanity Award, TEDx Hollywood, and the Past is Present 70th commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz. She is currently earning her doctorate in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in social justice at the University of California, San Diego and California State University, San Marcos. With a dual passion for education and dance, Michelle embraces an energetic teaching and coaching style.

Jennifer Farace graduated in 1994 from the University of California, Los Angeles with a BA in Communication Studies, received a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California in 2000, and is expected to receive her Ed.D.  in Educational Leadership from the University of California, San Diego and California State University San Marcos in 2018.

Jennifer has served in administrative positions of increasing responsibility in the UC system for more than 25 years. She currently serves as Director of Curricular and Student Affairs in the UCSD School of Medicine, where she is responsible for long-range planning, resource administration, institutional and policy development and analysis, and curriculum development. Jennifer’s foci are staff development in higher education and improving the delivery of behavior change training to medical students.

In Jennifer’s free time, she enjoys hiking, camping, and softball.

 

Jonathan Bernard Penuliar traces his family roots back to the islands of the Philippines. Struggling to find work after college, his parents were blessed to have been given the opportunity to immigrate to San Diego in the late 1970’s. Starting in a working-class neighborhood in South San Diego’s National City community, his parents worked hard and saved enough to slowly migrate north in order to give their children access to alternative educational experiences in the Poway Unified School District. Inspired by his parents’ perseverance, Jonathan continued his education and received his B.A. in English and communication at UC Santa Barbara. He then proceeded to complete the M.Ed. and Teacher Credential Program at UC San Diego. Through this program Jonathan was able to teach in South San Diego schools, serving the community his parents once called home. He has further supported this demographic through deep involvement in the nonprofit sector by working with organizations such as UC San Diego’s Upward Bound program, a federal grant project that aims to increase the collegiate success of low-income, first-generation students. Having returned to the Poway Unified School District, Jonathan is currently the English Language Development site coordinator and yearbook adviser at Twin Peaks Middle School. He is also a faculty member in the English Department. His work revolves around the basic premise that all students deserve every opportunity to succeed through a safe and rigorous learning environment. With research interests in the areas of cultural  intersections in schools, language  and education, and social justice education, Jonathan is back to pursue doctoral study in the UC San Diego and Cal State San Marcos Joint Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership.

 

Sara Vogel graduated in 2009 from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, with her Bachelor’s of Arts degree in International Relations and Global Affairs and then earned a Master's of Education in College Counseling and Student Affairs from North Carolina State University.  She will receive her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the joint doctorate program at UC San Diego and Cal State San Marcos in May 2019.

Sara’s career in student affairs began when she worked as a student peer advisor and Resident Advisor in University Housing at the University of the Pacific.  Upon graduating with her Bachelor’s degree, Sara continued her work in student affairs at Heald College, Honolulu as a Student Services Advisor.  She went on to work for three years as a Residence Director in University Housing at the University of West Florida and North Carolina State University.  Sara returned to California and worked for four years as an Assistant Director of University Housing at Sixth College in UC San Diego and then as an Associate Director of University Housing at CSU San Marcos.  In 2017, Sara began a new career path in the field of Title IX and Student Conduct investigations.

Sara is currently conducting research on how API women develop their leadership identity and how this identity development affects their participation in leadership opportunities in college.  

In Sara’s free time, she loves traveling the world, hiking with her husband and dog, eating at new restaurants, and watching movies.

 

Kyle Weinberg graduated in 2005 from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in Latin American Studies and Politics, received a MA in Education from San Diego State University in 2013 and began the Ed.D. program in Educational Leadership from the University of California, San Diego, and California State University, San Marcos in 2016. He holds a mild-moderate special education teaching credential, bilingual, single-subject teaching credentials in social science and English and a preliminary administrative credential. Over the last 13 years, Kyle has worked a wide variety of educational settings, ranging from classroom teacher to teacher on special assignment spearheading community-based pedagogy to co-director of a grassroots media-making initiative in Central America. For the past four years, he has been a member of the organizing committee of a regional, popular education youth conference. He is focused on the construction of environments that empower all stakeholders and create the potential for an education that fosters the mindsets, essential skills, and habits necessary for transforming our society. In Kyle’s free time, he enjoys biking, hiking and traveling.