Sacramento, CA, September 9, 2013

The School of Education in Sacramento and the School of Education have partnered with the California School Boards Association (CSBA) to launch a post-doctorate fellowship program aimed at promoting policy development for school districts across the state of California.

CSBA has identified topics in education that align with CSBA’s organizational initiatives. Four post-doctorate fellows at The School of Education in Sacramento have been selected to develop public policy governance briefs pertaining to relevant topics. Throughout the process, the students will work with and receive feedback from CSBA officials. Each of the fellows is assigned a Drexel faculty member, who will mentor and advise the student throughout the fellowship.

The students are currently working collaboratively with CSBA officials and School of Education faculty, and are expected to begin individual research on assigned policy brief topics this summer. The students will then present their completed policy briefs at the CSBA Annual Education Conference and Trade Show in San Diego in December.

The four post-doctorate fellows participating in the program follow:

Dr. Michael Agostini is director of operations at the Charter Schools Development Center. He also founded and currently serves as board president of a private music school in California that serves more than 200 students. Agostini also serves as a founding board member of Capitol Collegiate Academy, a K-8 charter school in Sacramento.

Dr. Addie Ellis is the director of the Youth Policy Initiative for Sacramento Steps Forward. In addition to her policy work and research on issues relating to homelessness, Ellis works as a consultant, a professor at St. Mary’s College of California, and a professional speaker.

Dr. Robert Martinez serves as the director of Human Resources for the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District. He is a member of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) and serves as the ACSA vice-president of Legislative Action, Region 4, president of Solano ACSA Charter, and is a member of the California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators.  He was named the 2012 California ACSA Personnel/Human Resources Administrator of the Year.

Dr. Mohammad Warrad is a vice principal at Valley High School in South Sacramento, and has been a secondary school site administrator in the Elk Grove Unified School District for the past five years.

Drexel University faculty who will be working with the students are:

• Dr. Edward Bureau, associate clinical professor and program director, EdD in Educational Leadership and Management
• Dr. Holly Carpenter, assistant clinical professor of Higher Education
• Dr. José Luis Chávez, clinical professor and program director of Higher Education
• Dr. Salvatore Falletta, associate clinical professor and program director, Human Resource Development
• Dr. Kathy Geller, assistant clinical professor, Human Resource Development, Educational Leadership and Management

Feature image via CSBA. Portraits courtesy of each of the fellows.