Welcome New Faculty and Staff (2023-2024)

October 3, 2023

The College of Education and Integrative Studies welcomed new Staff and Faculty.

New Staff: Urooj Khan serves as the Coordinator for Educational Leadership.

Educational Leadership Faculty

Dr. Dayna Mitchell, Educational Leadership Doctoral Program, Assistant Professor, previously Assistant Superintendent for Educational Services, Azusa Unified School District

Dr. Socorro Morales Educational Leadership Doctoral Program, Assistant Professor, previously an assistant professor at University of Texas, San Antonio in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Education Department Faculty

Dr. Cynthia Geary, Multiple Subject and Bilingual programs, has served as a lecturer in the Education Department for 15 years. She has supervised Multilingual and English MS and SS teacher candidates, as well as taught a wide breath of coursework that span the credential program. She was a bilingual classroom teacher and literacy resource teacher prior to coming to CPP. As a Research Associate for WestEd for 3 years, she contributed to the Early Mathematics Project. Her publications highlight interventions for secondary Native Spanish Speakers (behavioral and academic).

Dr. Nirmla Flores, Multiple Subject and Bilingual programs, As a first-generation immigrant from the Philippines, Dr. Flores served as a bilingual elementary school teacher for 12 years as she pursued her doctorate degree in Educational Leadership for Social Justice, University of Redlands. As a current CAAPAE Board Member, a CABTE Webmaster, an ELLLI advocate, along with her research interests in global literacy, transnationalism, technology, and dual language immersion, Dr. Flores has gained much appreciation for biliteracy/multiculturalism and a relentless desire to bring diverse groups together around a common vision.

Dr. Eliud Partida, Single Subject Science, comes to us from Claremont Graduate University where he has served as Assistant Clinical Professor and Director of Teacher Education since 2019. A former high school science teacher in Hacienda La Puente School District, his research interest includes K-12 STEM Teaching and Learning, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Anti/racist/Anti-bias Education, and Teacher Self-Efficacy. His dissertation focused on “Teacher Efficacy and Mathematics Achievement: Evidence from HSLS:09”.

Liberal Studies and IGE Faculty

Will Cowan, Liberal Studies Program

Dr. Hilary Haakenson, IGE, is an Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of the Interdisciplinary General Education Program in the Liberal Studies Department, she joined in 2015.

Growing up in Colorado she fell in love with the outdoors - rock climbing, skiing, hiking, anything outdoors. Her research has also inspired her love of travel. From Istanbul to Morocco and from Cambodia to the High Sierras, her career has allowed her to learn so much through first-hand explorations of cultural monuments and artifacts and personal connections with people from around the world.

As a scholar, she is an interdisciplinary cultural historian, and earned her Ph.D. in Art History from Rutgers University in 2015. She greatly enjoy teaching topics related to her research, including: Early Modern cartography, social/political commitment in art and literature, cultural myths and geographies, and the intersections between art and philosophy. She cultivated her love of the language, culture, and geography of Italy while living and working in Venice, Italy for two years on a Fulbright Fellowship. This period in Italy inspired her current research, which explores how Early Modern maps and public monuments visualize the cultural encounters that occurred in and around the Mediterranean Sea, and how, in turn, art shaped the contemporary European visions of the world.

Her publications include "Casting the Continents: Sacred History and Spiritual Odyssey in the Camposanto of Pisa" (2020) and Mediterranean Mosaic: History and Art (2019). Before coming to CPP, she taught at the University of Connecticut and Murray State University in Kentucky.

Anthony Peña, Liberal Studies Program, Is an Assistant Professor of Environmental & Science Education and researcher from North East Los Angeles (Unceded Tongva Land). Before joining the Liberal Studies Department at Cal Poly Pomona he taught for 12 years in alternative high school spaces, supporting youth who had been pushed out of their traditional high schools. He holds a Phd in Education from Claremont Graduate University, a Masters in Education from UC Los Angeles, and a Bachelors of Science in Ecology, Behavior & Evolution from UC San Diego. His research background is in critical pedagogy and science education, developing equitable and critical spaces for youth who have been pushed out of traditional secondary schools, culturally relevant science education, antiracist science education and inclusive secondary science curriculum.

Current Publications: Pena, A. (2023). Re-engaging youth who have been pushed out, in the science classroom. International Journal of Research in Education and Science (IJRES), 9(3), 571-596. https://doi.org/10.46328/ijres.3111

Pena, A. (2022). Supporting the STEM Aspirations of Youth Who Have Been Pushed Out. Science Education International (SEI) 33(4), 409-421. https://doi.org/10.33828/sei.v33.i4.8

Forthcoming Publications: Pena, A. (2023). Science Para El Barrio. Rio Bravo Journal, Vol 25.

I am very passionate about contributing to a quality scholarly experience for our students, both within our classrooms and in service to the community. I look forward to building bridges with our students and faculty from the university to the community. I am very motivated to work alongside the amazing educators and staff members within the CEIS community. I also look forward to meeting you all and collaborating with you.