Faculty, Instructors, & Researchers

World-Class Researchers

The faculty at University of California, Riverside School of Education boasts internationally renowned experts and top researchers among its ranks. From special education to school psychology, critical race theory to school reform, the scholarship of our faculty addresses some of today’s most critical education issues.

"When we suspend or expel a kid, we're telling them “you don't belong here.” Exclusionary discipline practices like these perpetuate systems of marginalization and inequity that begin as early as preschool. I'm committed to understanding how to give educational professionals the tools they need to make positive decisions in schools that make their work more fulfilling and kids’ lives better."

Austin Johnson

Associate Professor, Director of School Psychology program

"The governance of higher education has received insufficient study in comparison with its import, power, and influence over all facets of the academy. I aim to push research on higher education governance from the periphery to the core in order to better understand the decisions and decision makers who wield legal control of higher education."

Raquel Rall

Assistant Professor of Higher Education

Alice L. Lee has secured prestigious Spencer Foundation grants to expand her theoretical framework, “Teacher Embodiment as Lived Pedagogy.” She will continue to shine a light on how and why Black language speakers experience linguistic racism in schools. Her important research explicitly connects a teacher's racial and linguistic life experiences with their classroom pedagogies. Her research offers an explanatory framework as to why culturally responsive pedagogies have been elusive in schools.

Alice Y. Lee

Assistant Professor of Critical Literacy

As a clinician and a neuroscientist, Katherine Meltzoff uses her research findings to better understand autism and to help inform future treatments for children with ASD. She is an assistant professor of special education and assistant director of SEARCH, the UC’s first family autism resource center.

Katherine Meltzoff

Assistant Professor of Special Education

"With low retention rates in the STEM disciplines, especially for students from underrepresented minority backgrounds, and the growing economic need for STEM experts in the U.S., it is critical we figure out how to make STEM learning more accessible to a broader range of students. My research aims to identify how to bolster and develop students' spatial skills which underlie learning and success in these domains."

Kinnari Atit

Assistant Professor

Eddie Comeaux looks closely at how student athletes and underrepresented students experience college, and how their experiences influence their post-college outcomes. After years of research, he is committed to creating increasingly inclusive and optimal learning environments for them. He also works to identify factors that create more equitable pathways to college, and the ways we can broaden how we define academic success in the admissions process. He teaches courses on college student development theories, intercollegiate athletics, foundations of research, and diversity issues in higher education.

Eddie Comeaux

Professor of Higher Education