Leadership Team

DIRECTORS AND FOUNDERS

Rita Kohli is a co-founder and co-director of ITOC, and serves as an Associate Professor in the Education, Society and Culture Department at the University of California, Riverside. As a former Oakland Unified School District teacher, teacher educator and education researcher, Kohli has spent almost 20 years in urban public schools across the country. She currently serves on the editorial boards of the international journal Race, Ethnicity and Education and the Journal of Teacher Education, and is co-editor of the book, Confronting Racism in Teacher Education: Counternarratives of Critical Practice. Her research interests include critical race theory, racial climate and racial hierarchies in K-12 schools, and she has studied the strengths, barriers and resiliency of teachers of color across the pipeline. Kohli was the recipient of the University of California, Riverside's Innovator for Social Change Award (2016), the Scholar Activist and Community Advocacy Award (2017) from the Critical Educators for Social Justice Special Interest Group, and the Early Career Scholar of the Social Context of Education Division of the American Educational Research Association (2018).

Marcos Pizarro is a co-founder and co-director of ITOC. He is a Professor in Mexican American Studies, and Associate Dean of the Connie L. Lurie College of Education at San José State University. He has worked for over twenty years to develop innovative approaches to schooling with Chicanx youth. His book Chicanas and Chicanos in School: Racial Profiling, Identity Battles, and Empowerment, explores the relationship between the identities of Chicanx students and their academic performance. He coordinates MAESTR@S, an Institute for Raza Liberation through Educación, a teacher support group that has developed a model for transforming the school experiences of Raza youth in disenfranchised communities. He engaged in a yearlong project integrating this model in the development of a 11th grade Latinx Literature class to replace the standard English course.

Rebeca Burciaga is a co-founder of ITOC. An Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Mexican American Studies, and a Core Faculty Member for the Ed.D. Leadership Program in the Connie L. Lurie College of Education, Dr. Burciaga's research centers on understanding and challenging educational practices and structures that (re)produce social inequalities for historically marginalized communities, specifically Latinx students. Her research in schools and communities spans over 20 years and specializes on the study of qualitative research methodologies including testimonio and ethnography. Dr. Burciaga has an undergraduate degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz, a master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of California at Los Angeles. Her research has been supported and recognized by the Spencer Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Institute of Health, and the American Association of University Women.

LEADERSHIP TEAM

Arts Director

Nicole "Novela" Martinez is a Chicana Indigena community artist, educator and activist representing her homeland of Abiqui Pueblo, Nuevo Mexico to her hometown of Sacramento, California. Growing up hip-hop and ranch, she strives to acknowledge our rich ethnic identities and cultures and works to build partnerships and encourage solidarity with diverse communities through music, poetry, photography and the sharing of our unique stories, traditions and spiritual beliefs. Currently Nicole is a fourth grade bilingual teacher at Cesar Chavez Intermediate School in South Sacramento, Meadowview. She also works with community arts organizations Sol Collective, Sacramento Area Youth Speaks, Mahogany Urban Poetry, and other activist organizations. She provides beats, rhythms and soul to ITOC both on the turntables and off.

Program Committee
Genaro Ulloa; Los Angeles Unified School District, CA
Leah Thomas; Sequoia Union High School District, CA
Dara Nix Stevenson; North Carolina
Saili Kulkarni; San Jose State University, CA

Admissions Committee
Stephanie Gallardo; Tukwila School District, WA
Saraswati Noel; Seattle Public Schools, WA
Ramona Meza; University of Illinois at Chicago
Arturo Nevárez; University of California, Riverside

Teacher Educators Committee
Betina Hsieh; California State University, Long Beach
Sharon Leathers; William Paterson University , NJ
Nallely Arteaga; University of California, Riverside

Working Groups Committee
Lisa Kelly; Oakland Unified School District, CA
Gloria Muñoz-Hughes; Berkeley Unified School District, CA
Ray'Von Jones; Oakland Unified School District, CA
Martha Torres; Los Angeles Unified School District, CA

Health and Wellness Committee
Candice Valenzuela; Oakland, CA
Pam Segura; New York City Public Schools, NY
Shaina Patel; San Jose Unified School District, CA
Jeremy Greene; Natomas Unified School District, CA
Sameena Eidoo; University of Toronto

Community Building Committee
Tamasha Emedi; Highline Public Schools, WA
Danica Moore; Lawrence Public Schools, KS
Izamar Ortiz-Gonzalez; St. Hope Public Schools, CA
Davenar Johnson; Los Angeles Unified School District, CA

Social Committee
Nadine Loza; Corona Norco Unified School District, CA
Genaro Ulloa; Los Angeles Unified School District, CA

Femtor (Mentor) Committee
Nhung Ha; Los Angeles Unified School District, CA
Malayka Neith Cornejo; University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Shakiyya Bland; Lawrence Public Schools, KS