Francis Rojas – RDOC Chair – has most recently served as the Founding Principal of Emerald High School in Dublin, California – the newest comprehensive high school in Alameda County in over 50 years. Over the last 20 years, he has been an educator at the two largest high schools in the Bay Area – James Logan High School in Union City (2002-2017) and Milpitas High School in Milpitas (2017-2022), and served in various roles from science teacher, student activities director, vice principal, and principal. Francis is a two-time graduate of UC Berkeley (MA Educational Leadership – Principal Leadership Institute, 2010; BA Integrative Biology, 2001) and currently is a doctoral candidate in the School of Education’s Leaders for Equity and Democracy (LEAD) EdD program. His research focuses on the impact of extracurricular high school activities on diverse communities, including LGBTQ+, ethnic and religious minoritized, undocumented, and neuro-diverse students, and the need for culturally responsive, critical school leaders who can disrupt the perpetuation of systemic oppression and marginalization by these extracurricular programs and the traditions they hold.
Lihi Rosenthal – RDOC Staff Advisor – serves as Program Director of UC Berkeley’s Leaders for Equity and Democracy (LEAD), a re-imagined EdD program that prepares experienced school leaders for the challenges of advancing equity at the system level. In addition, Lihi teaches in the Principal Leadership Institute, from which she herself graduated, instructing aspiring school leaders in asset-driven data analysis and instructional leadership. She has also served as adjunct faculty and field supervisor at Loyola Marymount University, preparing new general and special education teachers to design rigorous and joyful classroom environments capable of meeting the complex needs of all learners. In 2019, Lihi co-authored the book, Unconditional Education: Supporting Schools to Serve All Students (published by Oxford University Press) which detailed the evidence-based practice and located its roots in systems theory, attachment theory, and behavioral learning theory. Lihi has been honored to serve as an appointed member of the California Special Education Task Force, tackling some of the challenges that exist in providing equitable educational opportunities to youth impacted by disabilities.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS (section still under construction)
- Rosanna Ayers
- Nicole Cedillo
- Ben Fils
- Brian Simmons
If you are interested in joining the BSE Research Day Organizing Committee or for more information, please email BSEResearchDay@gmail.com.