Profile

Dr. Cassandra Drake is an Assistant Professor of Liberal Studies at CSU Stanislaus in California’s Central Valley. She recently earned her Ph.D. in Education (Teaching, Learning and Culture) at San Diego State University in conjunction with Claremont Graduate University. She has a masters in Curriculum and Instruction, a California multiple subject teaching credential and a bachelors in Liberal Studies; all from California State University, Sacramento. A former K-8 classroom teacher, she used her dissertation to explore the development of teacher-candidate cultural competence toward the overall development of a social justice orientation. Broadly, her research interests are based on educators addressing the social/academic advancement and learner rights of K–12 public school students from ethnically, culturally, linguistically and socioeconomically diverse communities.

Ph. D in Education: Teaching, Learning and  Culture                                     M.A. in Education: Curriculum and Instruction California Multiple Studies Credential
  • California State University Sacramento
  • Authorization in Mathematics, English and Physical Education
B.A. in Liberal Studies
  • California State University Sacramento
  • Minor in Mathematics and Physical Education, Concentration in Theatre Arts 

2011 – 2014
First Grade Teacher: Mathematics and Science
Sacramento Valley Charter School
West Sacramento, CA 2006 – 2011
Substitute Teacher
Natomas Unified School District
Sacramento, CA 2007 & 2008
Summer School 7th Grade Pre-Algebra Teacher
Natomas Unified School District
Sacramento, CA     

Drake, C. (November 2019). Decolonizing the bodies, hearts and minds of teacher-candidates of color via critical multiculturalism. Invited paper session to be presented at the 29th Annual Conference for the National Association for Multicultural Education, Tucson, Arizona.

Drake, C.  (April 2018). Instagram Docuflection Projects: Using Social Media to Demonstrate Interdisciplinary Learning. Invited roundtable presentation at the American Educational Research Association conference, New York, NY.

Drake, C. (February 2018). Modern portraits and perspectives on interdisciplinarity: Using instagram for assessment and data collection. Paper presented at the Ethnographic and Qualitative Research Conference, Las Vegas, NV.

Drake, C. (September 2017). Instagram Docu-flection Projects. Finalist presentation for a university community panel of judges in Sacramento, CA.

Drake, C. (July 2017). Instagram Docu-flection Projects: document | reflect | share. Semi-finalist presentation at the CSUS Better Together Education Conference, Sacramento, CA.

Drake, C. (April 2017).  Instagram and Snapchat as a qualitative assessment tools: Methods and other considerations for using the popular applications to produce student generated, visual data and assess interdisciplinary student learning in the university classroom.  Paper presented at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education, 17th Annual Education Research Day, Berkeley, CA.

Drake, C. (February 2015). A lack of cultural and ethnic knowledge:  The “Achilles Heel” of teacher education. Paper accepted for presentation at the Critical Questions in Education Conference, San Diego, CA.

FCETL Mini Grant 2019-2020 ($500) for instructional Kindle Fire tablets

CSU Stanislaus College Executive Committee 2019-20 College Mini Grant ($1,800) for Fall 2019 NAME conference travel

Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program (CDIP) Scholar

CSU Sacramento 2017 ReInventED competition (Finalist)

The Marilyn Tyler Gaddis Travel Award for Spring 2018 EQRC conference travel

Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program 2018 Mini Grant ($1,392) Dissertation Funding

SDSU Student Success Fee Award ($12,650) for Spring 2019 symposium

Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program Travel Grant ($2,332) for 2019 SITE conference

2018-2020
Digital Communications Co-chair
AERA Division K Graduate Student Executive Board
American Educational Research Association 2018
Joint Doctoral Program Steering Committee: Doctoral Candidate Representative
College of Education, San Diego State University                                                                                                                       
San Diego, CA 2018
Director of Joint Doctoral Program Search Committee: Student Representative
College of Education, San Diego State University                                                                                                                       
San Diego, CA 2018
Dean of the College of Education Search Committee: Student Representative                                                          
College of Education, San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 2017 - 2019
Social Media Working Group Member                                                            
College of Education Technology Users Support Group, San Diego State University  
San Diego, CA 2017 - Present
Invited Reviewer                                                                                                              Anthropology and Education Quarterly 2016 & 2018
Collaborative Teaching Proposal Review Board: Student Representative                                                  
Arts Alive SDSU, College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts, San Diego State University                                                                          
San Diego, CA 2016
Director of Teacher Education Search Committee: Student Representative                                                    
College of Education, San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 2011 – 2013
Wish Granter (Bilingual)                                                                                              
Make-A-Wish Foundation                                                                                                                         
Sacramento, CA

English
Native Speaker … 100%
Read/Write/Listen/Speak Spanish
Foreign Speaker … 65%
Read/Listen/Speak Punjabi
Foreign Speaker … 15%
Read/Write/Listen/Speak