SOLES Spotlights
All Departments
SOLES Alumna Spotlight: Taylor Valdivia '18 (MA), Marital and Family Therapy
I am honored to dedicate this spotlight to my Grandmother: I am so blessed to have had the honor of being your Granddaughter. Although I will…
SOLES Alumna Spotlight: Cynthia Sistek-Chandler '07 (EdD), Educational Technology
Tell us a little bit about what led you to SOLES. Integrating technology has been in my “soul” since I’ve been a classroom teacher.…
SOLES Alumnus Spotlight: Anthony Franco '17 (MA), Higher Education Leadership Studies
Tell us about your degree program and why you chose SOLES. I originally applied for the Leadership Studies program and was admitted to that program. …
SOLES Alumna Spotlight: Parisa Malekzadeh '10 (MA), Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Tell us about your degree program and why you chose SOLES. My interest in the program started when I started working with kids, which was actually wh…
SOLES Alumna Spotlight: Angelica Sleiman '13 (MEd), Curriculum & Instruction, '18 (PhD), Leadership Studies
Tell us about both of the degree programs you participated in at SOLES. I received my Master’s in Education, in Curriculum and Instruction. At …
SOLES Alumna Spotlight: Dailyn Brown '18 (MEd), TESOL
Tell us about your SOLES degree program and why you chose it. I earned my MEd in TESOL, Literacy, and Culture. I am a San Diego native, but could not…
SOLES Alumnus Spotlight: Troy Williams '15 (MA), Leadership Studies
Tell us about your degree program and why you chose it. I was a non-traditional student. I started a business right out of high school and I didn&rsq…
SOLES Student Spotlight: Marisa Manzo '20 (MEd Online Student), Curriculum and Instruction
Tell us a little bit about yourself. I am a fourth-year 6th grade teacher from Northern California. I grew up in the San Fransisco Bay Area and love …
SOLES Student Spotlight: Gina Guaderrama (MEd Student), Dual Credential Program
Tell us a little bit about yourself. I moved to San Diego to join USD and I have been loving living here! I also got married in January and my …
School of Education Alumna Spotlight: Katherine Stone '95 (BA), '97 (MEd), Curriculum and Instruction
Tell us about your degree program and why you chose the School of Education. When I was younger, I used to dance and I wanted to be a dance teacher. …
SOLES Student Spotlight: Aziz Alkhorasi '20 (MEd Student), TESOL
Tell us a little bit about yourself. I am an international graduate student from Saudi Arabia. Growing up, English was a huge passion for me, even th…
SOLES Alumna Spotlight: Judy Wai '17 (MA), School Counseling
Tell us about your degree program and why you choose SOLES? I graduated in 2017 with my Master’s in Counseling with the PPS credential and I di…
School of Education Alumnus Spotlight: Stuart Grauer '89 (EdD), Leadership Studies
Tell us about your School of Education degree program and why you chose it. As an educator, the focus on the individual student is always the most im…
SOLES Alumnus Spotlight: Vincent Anthony '13 (MEd), Special Education
Please tell us about your SOLES degree program and why you chose it. I was a business major as an undergrad at Marist College, and a year after gradu…
School of Education Alumna Spotlight: Kim Athans '95 (BA), '00 (MEd), Curriculum and Instruction
What led you to USD and the School of Education? What has your journey through education on campus been? When I started undergrad, I didn’t hav…
SOLES Alumna Spotlight: Tina Casola '01 (MA), Marital and Family Therapy
Tell us about your degree program and why you chose it. Well, all the schools for grad school, none of them were large. I know I didn’t want to…
SOLES Alumnus Spotlight: Dan Lang '11 (MA), Leadership Studies
Tell us about your SOLES degree program and why you chose it. I completed the Educational Leadership Development Academy (ELDA) and the additional st…
SOLES Alumna Spotlight: Erika Soga '16 (MEd), TESOL
Tell us about your SOLES degree program and why you chose it. I was looking at the SDSU program (for the bilingual education and English certificate …
SOLES Alumni Spotlight: Kevin '87 (EdD) and Jackie '94 (EdD) Freiberg, Leadership Studies
Please tell us how you met, and how that shaped your decision(s) to attend SOLES: Kevin I was in the doctoral program at the School of Education at …
SOLES Student Spotlight: Matt Dahlman '20 (MA Student), School Counseling
Tell us a little bit about yourself. I moved to San Diego when I started graduate school from Minnesota where I grew up. I love playing games and spo…
SOLES Student Spotlight: Belgica Crespo '20 (MA Student), School Counseling
Tell us a little bit about yourself. I am in my second year in the School Counseling Program at SOLES. I am currently a school counseling intern at T…
SOLES Alumnus Spotlight: Sean Green '13 (MA), School Counseling, Doctoral Student
Tell us about your SOLES degree program and why you chose it. I am actually blessed to be a (hopefully) two-time SOLES grad. I completed my Master's …
SOLES Alumnae Spotlight: Janedra Sykes '05 (MA) and Jessie Towne-Cardenas '09 (MA), Nonprofit Leadership and Management
Tell us about your degree program at SOLES and why you chose it: Janedra: For me, I was an accidental executive director. I started with a faith base…
SOLES Alumna Spotlight: Stephanie Bernasconi '08 (MA), Higher Education Leadership Studies
Tell us about your SOLES degree program and why you chose it. Though I grew up in San Diego, I first really discovered USD through a close friend who…
SOLES Alumnus Spotlight: Mark Arapostathis '06 (EdD), Educational Leadership and Literacy
Tell us about your degree program and why you chose it. In 2006, I received my Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership, through a joint prog…
SOLES Student Spotlight: Meredith Mendez '20 (MA Higher Education Leadership)
Tell us a little about yourself?My name is Meredith Mendez and I am a third-year in the Higher Education Leadership Program as well as a graduate assi…
SOLES Alumna Spotlight: Heather Dierolf '99 (MA), Counseling, '09 (PhD), Leadership Studies
Tell us about your SOLES degree program and why you chose it. I received my masters in Counseling and my PhD in Education Leadership. I chose SOLES b…
SOLES Alumnus Spotlight: Jeffrey Young '14 (MA), Marital and Family Therapy
Tell us about your degree program and why you chose it. I’ve been interested in the field of psychology since before I started university, back…
SOLES Alumna Spotlight: Kay Krohne '91 (EdD), Leadership Studies
Tell us about your SOLES degree program and why you chose it. I was executive officer of the NROTC Unit at the University of San Diego when I started…