Our Team
Alison Yoshimoto-Towery
Executive Director, UC|CSU Collaborative for Neuroscience, Diversity, and Learning
Alison Yoshimoto-Towery has served for over thirty years as a teacher, principal, director, and chief academic officer for the Los Angeles Unified School District, and has served on numerous local, state, and national working groups. She also serves as a member of the California State Board of Education and is concurrently the Executive Director of the California Institute of Law, Neuroscience, and Education at UCLA.
Jennie Grammer
Faculty Director, UC|CSU Collaborative for Neuroscience, Diversity, and Learning; Associate Professor, UCLA School of Education and Information Studies
​Dr. Jennie Grammer studies how experiences in school shape students’ cognitive development and learning, drawing on methods from developmental psychology, education, and neuroscience, she focuses on processes — including executive functioning, self-regulation, attention, memory, and metacognition - that play an important role in academic growth and social interactions in school.
M.C. Kate Esposito
Chair and Professor, Department of Special Education, CSU Dominguez Hills
Patrick Brennan
Director of Policy, Philanthropy, and Partnerships; Director, Senior Fellows Program, UC|CSU Collaborative for Neuroscience, Diversity, and Learning
​Patrick Brennan is the Director of Policy, Philanthropy, and Partnerships for the Collaborative and oversees the UC|CSU Collaborative for Neuroscience, Diversity, and Learning’s Senior Fellows Program. He was the lead author of the legislative proposal that ultimately led to the launch of UC San Francisco’s Multitudes, a free, digital, literacy screening tool to aid in the early identification of students K-3 who face challenges learning to read.
Dyslexia Team
Maryanne Wolf
Co-Faculty Director, Dyslexia Team, UC|CSU Collaborative for Neuroscience, Diversity, and Learning; Director, UCLA Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice
​Dr. Maryanne Wolf is an advocate for children and literacy around the world. She is the author of: Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain (2007); Tales of Literacy for the 21st Century (2016); and Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World (2018). She has received the highest honors from the International Dyslexia Association and recently was appointed to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Sue Sears
Co-Faculty Director, Dyslexia Team, UC|CSU Collaborative for Neuroscience, Diversity, and Learning; Professor, Department of Special Education, CSU Northridge
​Dr. Sue Sears' research focuses on the areas of teacher education and literacy. She has received multiple special education personnel preparation grants and most recently was Co-Director of a federally funded adolescent literacy model/demonstration project. At CSU Northridge, Dr. Sears is Director of the Teaching, Learning, and Counseling Consortium, a multidisciplinary clinic that provides low-cost assessment, literacy tutoring, and counseling to local schools and families.
The Stewardship Team
Dr. Shireen Pavri advocates for teacher education at the state and national levels and supports campuses in achieving equity and excellence in educator preparation. Along with her team, she coordinates the CSU’s contributions to PK-12 reform and supports the academic preparation of PK-12 students to ensure they are prepared for college success.
Shireen Pavri
Assistant Vice Chancellor, Educator and Leadership Programs at California State University
Dr. Michael Spagna is a longtime member of the CSU community, and he is committed to CSU Dominguez Hill’s collective mission of improving student success and ensuring access for the underserved and diverse communities they serve. In collaboration with the Academic Senate and other stakeholders, he strives for high quality in teaching, scholarship, creative activities, and service for faculty and academic programs.
Michael Spagna
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at California State University Dominguez Hills
Dr. Tina Christie is an internationally recognized scholar whose work focuses on understanding evaluation as a method for facilitating social betterment. As part of this work, she has developed studies to advance the theories and methods used to measure educational, social, and behavioral changes that result from program innovation and reform efforts.
Tina Christie
Wasserman Dean of UCLA School of Education and Information Studies and UCLA Education Professor of Social Research Methodology
Dr. Annamarie Francois is an esteemed teacher educator and organizational leader whose commissions ignite equity-focused “good trouble” to engage, inform, and influence PK-16 education research, policy, and practice. She represents UCLA SEIS in local, state, and national conversations that spur educational equity, innovation, and evidence-based practice. Her public scholarship, teaching, and service contribute significantly to educator development, organizational leadership, and transformative partnerships.
Annamarie Francois
