Julie Bianchini and Alexis Spina

Advisor Dr. Julie Bianchini ceremonial hoods new Ph.D. Alexis Spina in June 2021

Twenty-seven doctoral candidates from UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz Graduate School of Education took part in graduation ceremonies in the academic year 2020-21. Listed below are the new CCSP and ED Ph.D.s and their dissertation titles.

Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology

Meg Boyer, “Experiences of Pandemic Coping During the Initial Phase of the COVID-19 Outbreak and Among College Students in the United States”

Chun Chen, “Problematic Internet Use, Social-Emotional Learning Competencies, and Bullying Victimization Among Chinese Adolescents”

Alyssa Hufana, “Exploring the Lived Experiences of Second-Generation Filipina American Emerging Adults: Navigating Challenges and Meaning-Making of Intersecting Identities and Cultural Values”

Caitlin Merrill, “Refinement, Acceptability, and Feasibility Testing of TransCOPE: An Online Coping Skills Training for Transgender People”

Haley Meskunas, “Development and Evaluation of an Integrative Group Therapy Treatment for Survivors of Complex Trauma”

Daina Tagavi, “Parent-Child Psychophysiological Synchrony in Early Autism Intervention: A Pilot Investigation”

Maria Vazquez, “Formerly Incarcerated Latinxs' Perspectives on the Psychological Impact of Incarceration & Reintegration: The Impacts of Trauma, Identity, and Culture on Transition”

Rhea Wagle, “An Exploration of School Belonging Among Primary and Secondary School Students”

Kelly Whaling, “Examining the relations between gender, latent classes of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and internalizing/externalizing symptoms among Latinx teens”

Department of Education

Walter Aminger, “Examining Preservice Secondary Science Teachers’ Implementation of Reform-Based Instruction for English Learners: A Focus on the edTPA”

Kelsee Bensley, “Special Educator as Change Agent: Creating Services for Students with EBDs in a Full-Inclusion School”

Keri Bradford, “The Higher Education Experiences of Native American Students: A Qualitative Study of Historical Trauma, Identity, and Institutional Support”

John Cano, “Understanding the curricular (re)design and technology integration process of a community-based Education course from a face-to-face to online modality in a R1 university during the coronavirus pandemic”

Anthony Clairmont, “A Discovery-based Workflow for Educational Measurement”

Jeremy Edwards, “A Critical Race Analysis: Examining the Black College Experience at a Selective Public Minority-Serving Research Institution (MSRI)”

Katerina Ford, “Supervision Practices and Predictors of Supervision Satisfaction for Clinicians Providing Behavioral Services for Individuals with ASD”

Ana Guerrero, “College and Career Aspirations: Identity Pathways—Longitudinal Case Studies of Latinx Students”

Tatzia Langlo, “From Preparation to Profession in Two Cultures: Deweyan Influences on Philosophy and Practice”

Katharine Lee, “‘We Can Construct What Needs to Still Be Done’: Reformulating the Politics and Pedagogies of Academic Writing Programs in Higher Education”

Lilly Lew, “Designer Minds: Examining Youths’ Multimodal Literacies”

Krista Lucas, “Examining Science Identity Work and Scientific Literacy in Non-STEM Majors”

Michelle Petty, “Walking the walk: How Writing, Rhetoric, and Composition doctoral programs prepare their graduate students for intersectional Writing Studies research”

Kimber Rudder Breed, “Weaving the Social Fabric of Dialogic Relations: An Investigation and Exploration of the Interactional Accomplishment of ‘Being With’”

Jenny Sperling, “Curriculum and Policy Misrepresentation, Mixed Messaging, and Missed Opportunities: A Critical Queer Ethnography of High School Sex Education”

Alexis Spina, “Preservice Mathematics Teachers’ Conceptualization of the Standards for Mathematical Practice: A Study Across Four Universities”

Elizabeth Villa Rosales, “Ichi Nà Sákua'a: Ichi Nà Sákua'a: Examining the educational paths of Indigenous Mexican College Students in California's Central Coast”

Clare Washington, “Making it Through the Maze: The Triumphs and Trials of Women of Color Administrative Leaders at Two Historically White Universities in California”