Marne Foster (PhD ESJ) named 2022 Faculty - Woman of the Year from the San Diego College of Continuing Education

The San Diego Chapter of the American Association for Women in Community Colleges (AAWCC), has selected Marne Foster as the 2022 Faculty - Woman of the Year from the San Diego College of Continuing Education. This award is given each year to a woman who demonstrates exceptional leadership and advocacy for women in Region X community colleges, the community, and for those who have been marginalized in education.

Born and raised in San Diego, Marne Foster is the Student Learning Outcomes and Program Review Coordinator for the San Diego College of Continuing Education (SDCCE). She has been a faculty member for the past 20 years, leading deans, professional staff, and more than 600 faculty, and taught across three programs: English as a Second Language, High School Diploma, and Career and College Readiness.

As a community member, parent, educator, and product of public education, she has witnessed firsthand and questioned the disparate treatment and ensuing data concerning Black, Indigenous, and other students of color in San Diego City schools. This experience informed her practice when she served on the San Diego Unified School District Board from 2012 to 2016. Ms. Foster authored the resolution that established the San Diego Unified Through Diversity Committee and its focus on Cultural Proficiency and Ethnic Studies, which produced the 1st district-wide training of principals on cultural proficiency and implicit bias.

Marne is also a proud member of the 2nd Cohort of the School of Leadership and Education Sciences (SOLES) PhD in Education for Social Justice program, where she is a student ambassador. Since 2020, she has co-created a summer social justice camp for San Diego youth, presented research on the school-to-prison pipeline as a part of SOLES Diversity & Inclusion Showcase, and conducted principal interviews and site observations at public schools to study the relationship between school leadership and student discipline. This semester Foster continues to do research through principal interviews, with the added focus on public education policy.