DORIS ALVAREZ
Doris Alvarez distinguished herself early in her career, graduating from San Diego State University and moving directly to the classroom to along her ion for education to young people. A native daughter of New Mexico, Alvarez later became a school counselor and principal, and in 1997 was named National Principal of the Year for her work at Hoover High School in San Diego. When the Preuss School was established in 1998, Alvarez was named founding principal of the innovative charter school at UC San Diego. Alvarez resigned from the Preuss School in 2007 and now works as director at The Education Network, a program of the Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center at UCSD.
CLARA BREED
Clara Breed was a much-revered librarian who served 42 years in the San Diego Public Library system, including 25 years as San Diego’s city librarian. She is best known for openly opposing the internment of local Japanese American families during World War II.
Breed knew many of the families because they were regular library s. She sent dozens of care packages to children in the camps, including clothing, shower caps, pencils, candy, hair curlers and, of course, books. She wrote letters to government officials and penned critical articles decrying internment as a gross injustice. Democracy, she wrote, “must be defended at home as well as abroad.” The children never forgot her. At a 1991 reunion for those imprisoned at the Poston camp in Arizona — three years before Breed’s death — a crowd of 700 people gave her a standing ovation. Even as adults they called her “Miss Breed.” She was inducted into the San Diego Women’s Hall of Fame in 2007.
ELEONOR CASTILLO
Eleonor Castillo has long championed the incorporation of the Filipino language and culture in education in California. The Filipina Women’s Network named her one of the 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the United States in 2007. Castillo began her teaching career in the San Diego Unified and Chula Vista Elementary school districts, where she taught from 2000 to 2008. She was a major force behind legislation to ensure theteaching of the Filipino language and culture — and other less commonly taught languages — in public schools. She was president of the Filipino American Educators Association of California from 2004 to 2008 and of the county’s association from 2006 to 2009. In 2020, Castillo ed the School of Education at Westminster College in Utah. As an associate professor, she emphasizes diversity, equality, inclusion, nondiscrimination and social justice, along with the impact of language identity. She authored a study, to be released in late 2021, that explores life experiences of Filipinx American teachers.
PAULA CORDEIRO
Paula Cordeiro has dedicated her life in service to others, especially those less fortunate than herself. Cordeiro is a former teacher, principal and head of international schools in Venezuela and Spain. Her work in education leadership has led her around the globe, and during her 17 years as dean, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences at the University of San Diego grew into international prominence. After leaving the School of Leadership and Education Sciences in 2015, Cordeiro ed the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at USD, where she now serves as the Danmeyer Distinguished Professor of Global Leadership and Education. Cordeiro’s academic focus is on social entrepreneurship, and she advises a nonprofit dedicated to microlending.
CAROL ROWELL COUNCIL
Carol Rowell Council co-founded the nation’s first women’s studies program at San Diego State University in 1969. Her interest in feminism grew from her participation in antiwar and students’ rights movements while she was a student at SDSU, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in public istration. In 1969, at age 21, she taught a field experience course in the women’s studies program. She also co-founded the nonprofit Center for Women’s Studies and Services (now called the Center for Community Solutions), which included crisis centers and special programs such as arts festivals, lectures, poetry readings, performances and exhibits. She was its director for 20 years. Today, there are more than 600 women’s studies programs around the world. Council was inducted into the San Diego Women’s Hall of Fame in 2017.
MARYE ANNE FOX
Marye Anne Fox made history as the first female chancellor at North Carolina State University on her way to La Jolla, where she accomplished award-winning science while leading UC San Diego for nearly a decade. ed as a tough-minded chemist, in 2004 Fox became the first woman to hold the chancellor position at UCSD as a permanent appointee. In 2009, while still serving as chancellor, Fox was awarded the National Medal of Science in chemistry for her insights about the science of sustainable energy. Fox earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Notre Dame College in Ohio in 1969, then a doctorate in the same field from Dartmouth in 1974, eras in which women were not widely represented in the field of science. Later, in 1994, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences at a time when all but 100 of the Academy’s 1,700 were men. She died in May 2021 at her home in Austin, Texas. She was 73.
JANIS GABAY
Janis Gabay, a national Teacher of the Year and founding teacher of The Preuss School UC San Diego, said she was excited by the chance to be part of the unique campus when it opened in 1999. Gabay taught English, service learning, art and music at the middle and high school until her retirement this year. She said she was eager to work with “forgotten” or “overlooked” students who were often tracked into unchallenging, basic courses but had the chance to work toward college enrollment at Preuss. Gabay previously worked at Serra High School in San Diego and received a crystal apple and thank-you note from then-President George H.W. Bush when she was honored as Teacher of the Year in 1990.
TIFFANY JOKERST
Tiffany Lynn Jokerst, who teaches math and engineering at West Hills High School in Santee, became one of California’s five Teachers of the Year last month. A teacher for 15 years, she helped start a new engineering program at her school and helped reinvent the way the Grossmont Union High School District teaches math. On a recent school day, she greeted her students dressed up in a 1970s outfit and dancing to “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees. She invited students to use disco moves to model the end-behaviors of graphs. Last school year, to help all her students in distance learning, Jokerst made take-home engineering kits and built four online learning platforms. “Tiffany is a shining example of an educator who works tirelessly to ensure that her students are engaged and poised for success, both in school and beyond,” said Paul Gothold, San Diego County superintendent of schools.
KAREN HAYNES
As the president of Cal State San Marcos from 2004 to 2019, Karen Haynes was the longest-seated president in the California State University system and the first woman to hold the role in CSU history. During her istration, the school’s enrollment more than doubled to 17,000 and more than 100 new academic programs were launched. She created a highly respected school of nursing and laid the foundation for an engineering program that is now beginning to blossom. Her efforts helped establish the university as the intellectual center of North County. Before coming to CSUSM, she had been president of the University of Houston at Victoria.
ROSALIE CLIFTON HILL
The Rev. Mother Rosalie Clifton Hill was a prominent Catholic educator who founded the San Diego College for Women. The school, which was chartered in 1949, merged with San Diego’s College for Men and the School of Law in 1972, creating the University of San Diego, which now has about 9,000 students and is well regarded in everything from international relations to nursing. Mother Hill, a member of the Society of the Sacred Heart, served as the college’s honorary president until she retired in 1961. She also helped to develop the San Francisco College for Women; Barat College at Lake Forest, Ill.; and Duchesne College in Omaha, Neb.
PRECIOUS JACKSON-HUBBARD
A native San Diegan, Precious Jackson-Hubbard has been principal for seven years at Bell Middle School, near the neighborhood where she was born and grew up. This year, the Association of California School s named her middle school principal of the year for San Diego and Imperial counties. The award reflects her success in making her school a safe place for young people and her outreach efforts, such as a community pantry where families in need can stock up on anything from food to shoes. Jackson-Hubbard graduated from Lincoln High School; earned her bachelor’s degree at Howard University in Washington, D.C.; and completed her master’s and is working toward an Ed.D. at San Diego State University.
MYRRA LEE
Myrra Lenore Lee, the National Teacher of the Year in 1977, was known for employing a teaching style based on questioning and for developing her own curricula to teach subjects not typically covered in high school, such as minorities in history, women’s studies and family studies. During her tenure, she fought to establish courses called “Minorities in American History” and “Woman in America.” Raised in New York, Lee received her degrees and teaching credential from the University of Wisconsin and Columbia University. The La Mesa resident died in 2018 at age 92, years after becoming active in the San Diego Chapter of the American Association of University Women. She sponsored conferences to educate people about human trafficking and devoted her time to helping young women with workplace equity and educational opportunity.
STARLA LEWIS
Starla Lewis is revered locally for her tireless efforts to boost multiculturally diverse communities as a poet, author and professor of Black studies at Mesa College in San Diego. She has prioritized teaching people how to share comion, love, mutual respect and understanding. Lewis, who was inducted to the San Diego Women’s Hall of Fame in 2015, helped found the Celebration of Everlasting Love and Life, a human potential consulting firm. She has served on the San Diego Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, the I Am My Sister mentor program and the California Black Women’s Health Project.
SANDRA McBRAYER
Sandra McBrayer is a native San Diegan who founded a school for homeless youths in 1987 after teaching for several years at The Storefront, a downtown San Diego homeless shelter for teens. She taught at the Homeless Outreach School, now known as Monarch School, from 1988 to 1996. She was named national Teacher of the Year in 1994. In 1996, McBrayer became chief executive of The Children’s Initiative, a San Diego-based nonprofit advocacy group. She now teaches in San Diego State University’s College of Education.
GRACIA MOLINA DE PICK
Gracia Molina de Pick became involved with the women’s suffrage movement in Mexico at age 15. In 1957, she moved to San Diego, where she helped pave the way for the development of Chicano studies programs at colleges and universities throughout California. She taught junior high students in National City and was part of the faculty at the University of California San Diego. She helped fund scholarships at UC San Diego and Mesa College and the construction of the Logan Heights library. She mentored young activists with the Mexican American Youth Association, later known as MEChA, and founded IMPACT, a civil rights organization, and Comision Femenil Mexicana Nacional, a feminist association. She was a leader in the National Women’s Political Caucus, the National Council of La Raza and the city of San Diego’s Human Relations Commission. She was among the inaugural inductees to the San Diego Women’s Hall of Fame in 2002. Molina de Pick died in 2019 in Tequisquiapan, Queretaro, Mexico, where she had been living for several years. She was 91.
BERTHA PENDLETON
Bertha Ousley Pendleton was the first female and first Black superintendent in San Diego. During her 40-year career in the San Diego Unified School District, she served as a teacher, counselor, principal and deputy superintendent on her way to becoming superintendent in 1993. Starting as a teacher in 1957 at Memorial Junior High School in San Diego, Pendleton began championing equity in education. As a leader, she worked for smaller class sizes, better reading programs, rigorous ability systems and zero-tolerance policies for violence. She opened 14 schools during her tenure. Pendleton also served as an adjunct professor at Point Loma Nazarene College and led monthly televised discussions on school issues. She was part of U.S. government delegations that lectured on education issues in South Africa and reviewed U.S. Department of Defense schools in Japan and England.
RITA SANCHEZ
Rita Sanchez was the first woman to be hired as full-time tenured faculty in what was then Mexican-American studies at San Diego State University and at San Diego Mesa College. She taught at SDSU from 1974 to 1984 while doing graduate studies at UC San Diego. She taught at Mesa starting in 1990, chaired the Chicano studies department from 1996 to 1999, and, in 2006, led the department to change its name to Chicana and Chicano studies. In 1984, Sanchez founded the Acevedo Gallery in San Diego with her then-husband, Mario Acevedo, and his father, artist Guillermo Acevedo. The gallery primarily showed works by Chicano artists, but also included art from Latin America and Native American art from the southwestern United States. Sanchez was named to the San Diego Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011 and, with Sonia Lopez, is co-editor of “Chicana Tributes.”
DOROTHY SMITH
Dorothy Smith, a two-term president of the San Diego Unified School District Board of Education, was the first African American woman elected to office in the county. During her tenure, which began in 1981, she pushed for policies that promoted equity and prepared students for careers and college, such as a common core curriculum. She co-founded the McGill School of Success charter school and worked as a professor for 24 years at San Diego City College and as a lecturer at San Diego State University, where she was the inaugural director of the university’s Aim-to-Teach program, which has increased the diversity of students in SDSU’s teacher credentialing program. Beyond education, Smith has made an impact with her involvement in the Catfish Club and the Common Ground Theatre and as one of the first and presidents of the city of San Diego’s Ethics Commission. She was inducted into the San Diego Women’s Hall of Fame in 2019.
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MARY CATHERINE SWANSON
Once an aspiring journalist, Mary Catherine Swanson became an educator best known for creating a national program called AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), that prepared underserved students to get into four-year colleges. She developed the program in the 1980s while teaching English at San Diego’s Clairemont High School. Today, the program serves more than 2 million students in nearly 7,500 schools, with 95 percent of AVID graduates enrolling in college, according to the AVID organization. Her contribution to American education has been widely recognized. She was named America’s Best Teacher in 2001 by CNN and Time magazine, and Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews wrote: “I don’t know any single person in the country who has done more for our school children than AVID founder Mary Catherine Swanson.” She retired as the executive director of AVID in 2006, but remains on its board of directors.
ADA YORK
Canadian-born Ada York was a progressive pioneer in public education. In 1921, she was appointed to fill the unexpired term of the county schools superintendent and subsequently won every re-election until she retired in 1943. The Western Journal of Education, which pictured York on the cover of its June 1922 publication, praised her for helping consolidate school districts and building three new high schools and three elementary schools, which featured open-air classrooms, recreation areas and community meeting rooms. York also instituted community play days and penmanship campaigns. Her talents were recognized nationally when York was appointed by the U.S. education commissioner to serve on the national advisory council on school building problems. York also was active in the National Education Association and served as a vice president of what is now known as the National Rural Education Association. York, who married music composer Frank Allen in 1939, wrote two books of poetry, “Children of Earth” and “Moods and Moments.” She died in 1947 in La Mesa.
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