Dean's Welcome

Welcome to The College of Education, Counseling, and Ethnic Studies. We are made up of faculty from many disciplines all striving to prepare leaders in our community who engage in self-reflection, critical dialogues with community members, and are prepared to work with children, families, and community members within their fields. As scholars and practitioners, faculty engage in transformative practices in partnership with the community on and off campus. We enter these spaces grounded in history and traditions using sociocultural approaches to understanding them. As the Dean of the college, I am proud to work at a Hispanic Serving Institution that values the lives and experiences our students bring to campus. I am committed to equity and inclusion, and my hope is that we offer our students programs that enrich their lives and prepare them to lead in their communities. I welcome you all to learn more about our programs and faculty. 

I started at Sonoma State University in 2020 as the Dean of the School of Education, with a vision of justice-oriented teacher preparation and expanding teacher residencies in Northern California. I am a scholar in the field of language, literacy, and culture, and received my Ph.D. from the School of Education at the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to coming to Sonoma State, I served two years as Interim Dean at Fresno State. My service in the CSU system began in 2004 as an Assistant Professor in the Language, Literacy, Bilingual, and Special Education department, and I was instrumental in building graduate programs and key in supporting the teacher residencies in the Central Valley. I was also responsible for starting one of the first bilingual preschools offered at a CSU campus for children of student parents. In addition to my work in the CSU system, I published a co-edited volume focusing on Chican@ children’s literature in 2018 titled Voices of Resistance: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Chican@ Children's Literature.

Laura Alamillo, Ph.D. 
Dean 
alamillol@sonoma.edu