Four alumni of the UC Riverside School of Education (SOE) were honored on Thursday, May 7 at the third annual Alumni Excellence Awards in Education. The awards were established to recognize outstanding alumni who, in alignment with the mission of the SOE, are committed to advancing equitable systems and practices.
The awards, hosted by Dean Joi A. Spencer, were held at the UCR Alumni and Visitors Center.
Educational Leadership
Bushra Abdelaziz's path to educational leadership started in the classroom. A two-time UCR alumna, she earned her B.A. in Liberal Studies and Education before returning to complete her M.Ed. with a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential. She taught fourth grade and served as a reading intervention specialist at Title I schools, where her understanding of systemic inequity deepened into a professional philosophy.
Today, Abdelaziz works with UCR's College Corps program, designing inclusive systems that help students, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, find belonging, develop professional skills, and reduce financial barriers. The thread running through her career is consistent: center the students who are most often left out.
K-12 Educator
Dr. Juan Gaytan holds degrees in psychology, counseling, and education, but his latest passion is the high school English classroom at West Valley High School in Hemet Unified. His bio says it plainly: the throughline of his work is "a commitment to tending to our shared humanity."
That commitment shows up everywhere. As chairperson of Encuentros Leadership, a nonprofit he has been part of since he was a middle school student himself, Gaytan leads from the inside. He developed the Encuentros Teacher Academy, a summer residential program recruiting Latino men into the teaching profession, and is currently building a workshop to support BIPOC individuals healing from racial trauma in higher education. He is, as his own words put it, someone who believes that "only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible."
K-12 Educator
Nicholas Bouzikian came to UCR after decades of layered experience including earning associate degrees in administration of justice, anthropology, sociology, and behavioral sciences; some time at the San Bernardino Sheriff's Academy; and years in school safety at Moreno Valley Unified's Valley View High School. He completed his B.A. in Education, Society, and Human Development with a double major in Sociology at UCR in 2025, bringing his practical knowledge into an academic framework.
He is also the founder of Nerd Mafia, a Southern California cosplay community and nonprofit that promotes peace, equality, and civic engagement through philanthropy and convention outreach. For Bouzikian, community is the work.
Faculty in Higher Education
Dr. Tiffany Viggiano is a double alumna of UCR, having earned her B.S. in Anthropology in 2013 and her M.Ed. from the Graduate School of Education in 2015. A Fulbright fellowship supported her doctoral research in Finland, and her career since has spanned Hispanic-Serving, Tribal, rural Midwestern, and Pacific Island institutional contexts, each demanding a different understanding of access and equity.
Most recently, as Dean of WAVES at the College of the Marshall Islands, she led workforce and adult education programs across a multi-island system, expanding maritime training pathways and community-based education in geographically remote settings. Her scholarship focuses on critical internationalization and community colleges, examining how institutional decisions shape who gets to define success. In 2024, she authored one of the most cited articles in the Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity.
About the UCR School of Education
The University of California, Riverside School of Education, or SOE, is a nationally recognized school in a public research university that leverages its broad range of expertise to develop impactful partnerships, collaborations, and evidence-based resources fundamental for teaching, learning, and student success. Located in a region rich in racial and linguistic diversity, yet challenged by economic and social inequities, SOE serves a diverse student population, much of which is comprised of students of color, low-income students, and first-generation college students. The SOE mission is to advance equitable educational systems and practices which are driven by core values of equity, evidence, excellence, community, critical thinking, and compassion.
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