AU School of Education Welcomes New Faculty
The American University School of Education is pleased to welcome this amazing group of new faculty members to its community. These faculty represent diverse areas of expertise and each will add to the School’s commitment to excellence, diversity, and antiracist/socially-just practice.
Dr. Alberto Cabrera, Scholar-In-Residence, Center for Postsecondary Readiness and Success (CPRS)
Dr. Cabrera is a professor emeritus in the top-ranked Higher Education Program at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research interests include the impact of college on students, college choice, classroom experiences, minorities in higher education, college outcomes, and college graduates. He was also co-principal investigator for the IES grant titled Dream Deferred, which provided a most comprehensive review of the impact of GEAR UP on awareness and readiness for college among low-income middle school students. He was the co-leader of the Diversity Institute, a project funded by NSF seeking to create inclusive teaching practices in STEM fields. His work has received several awards including the H. S. Warwick Award for Outstanding Published Scholarship in Alumni Relations and the ASHE Early Career Award. He has been a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Penn State University, SUNY-Albany, and Arizona State University-West campus. He has served on the advisory boards of Pathways to College Network, the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC)'s Student Outcomes, the GEAR UP Evaluation Council of the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP), and the Higher Education Accreditation Agency of the Provincial Government of Aragon, Spain. Dr. Cabrera has also served on the National College Access Network's board of directors as well as on the editorial boards of Journal of Higher Education, Review of Higher Education and Research in Higher Education, and Revista Complutense de Educacion. In 2009-10, on a Fulbright award, Dr. Cabrera worked with the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) and the Federal University of Santa Maria (Universidade Federal de Santa Maria or UFSM) in developing performance indicators for assessing classroom teaching practices and student learning among Brazilian college students.
Dr. kecia hayes, Senior Professorial Lecturer, EPL Program
Dr. hayes has been a champion of antiracist K-12 leadership and praxis in New York City for more than two decades. Recently, at Teachers College, Columbia University, she served in two leadership roles as the founding director of REACH, the university-assisted community school initiative, and then as executive director of the Double Discovery Center, focusing on college access and support for low-income and first-generation youth from high-poverty and low-performing NYC public schools. Dr. hayes also has extensive experience in teaching in higher education, having taught courses on conflict resolution, leading curriculum change, school and community relations, action research, among others at both Teachers College, Columbia University, and Montclair State University. Additionally, Dr. hayes has had an active scholarly life writing articles and book chapters on antiracist education topics.
Dr. Ocheze Joseph, Senior Professorial Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Teacher Education
Dr. Joseph is a DC native and a graduate of District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). Her areas of specialization are pre-service teacher development and mentoring, literacy and reading education, culturally relevant practices in teaching, and family and community engagement. She has served as a principal in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), an elementary classroom teacher and reading specialist. Most recently, she was a Visiting Professor at Howard University’s School of Education and a Lecturer in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Peabody College at Vanderbilt University.
Dr. Edit Khachatryan, Scholar of Improvement Science
Dr. Edit Khachatryan is an improvement facilitator, researcher, and educator with a mission to create lasting educational improvements by facilitating and strengthening collaborative learning among educators. Edit started her career as a high school teacher, and cares deeply about strengthening the teaching profession and ensuring that educators have the collaboration time, necessary supports and resources, and authentic professional development opportunities. The desire to understand how to do this well led her out of the classroom to engage in federal policy at the U.S. Department of Education as a Teaching Ambassador Fellow, then to earn her doctorate from Stanford University. Edit’s scholarly work has focused on feedback on teaching from classroom observations, teacher professional development, teacher and district leadership development, and improvement coaching. Most recently, Edit co-authored an article with Emma Parkerson on how to organize the social dimensions of school improvement in Kappan magazine.
Dr. William Thomas, Professorial Lecturer, EdD Program
Dr. Thomas has been a K-12 teacher, school principal, and program director for the past 18 years, all in the service of equity in education. Many of his education practitioner and leader positions have been in DC schools, for example as a Biology Teacher at Ron Brown College Preparatory High School and as the Principal of Community Academy Global Campus. Most recently, he was the Director of Science at Mastery Charter School, where he led and managed the science program for over twenty elementary middle, and high school campuses. Dr. Thomas received a doctoral degree in education leadership from the University of Pennsylvania, where his dissertation focused on the career trajectories and retention of Black Male Teachers who graduated from Morehouse College.
Dr. Jeff Wang, Vice Provost, Global and Immersive Studies, Senior Professorial Lecturer
Jeff Wang joined American University as the inaugural Vice Provost for Global and Immersive Studies (VPGIS) following a national search. An innovative leader with deep knowledge of international education, Dr. Wang leads AU’s newly created Office for Global and Immersive Studies, which brings together AU Abroad, the International Accelerator Programs, the English Language and Training Academy, and the Washington Semester Programs. Dr. Wang served as Assistant Vice President for Global Affairs at Rutgers University, having previously held the title of Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Global Affairs for the New Brunswick campus. Since Jeff’s arrival at Rutgers in 2011, his responsibilities have included collaborating with institutional leaders to develop the university’s comprehensive globalization plan and guiding university-wide international strategic initiatives. Dr. Wang worked with faculty, staff, and administrators to restructure Rutgers’ international recruitment strategy; enhanced international student academic success and retention; improved services to international students and scholars; and created new agreements to expand opportunities in study abroad, faculty exchanges, and service-learning programs. Prior to his tenure at Rutgers University, Dr. Wang served as a Public Service Associate in the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government. He holds a PhD in Political Science from Western Michigan University and an MA in Economics from Northwest University (China). His scholarly work includes a book entitled State-Society Relationship in China, published in 2016.