Tammy Spencer

For over two decades, Tammy has served as an academic leader, teacher, and university professor, and she joins the Board with a strong commitment to equity and inclusion, social justice, and student-centered pedagogy. She is an associate professor in the Teacher Education Department at Saint Mary’s College of California and has served in numerous leadership positions, most recently as the associate dean of the Kalmanovitz School of Education and program director of the Teachers for Tomorrow Program and the Justice, Community, and Leadership Major. Her leadership at Saint Mary’s College has advanced the expansion of the educator preparation programs to be more accessible, robust, and aligned with the unique opportunities and challenges of California’s K-12 schools. An established academic, Tammy has authored numerous research articles and book chapters, been awarded grants, presented widely for practitioner and scholarly conferences, and recently was awarded the Early Literacy Educator of the Year Award from the Early Childhood Assembly of the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE). Prior to her tenure at Saint Mary’s College, she served as an associate professor at Montclair State University, taught first and second grade, served as a literacy administrator, and worked as a K-3 reading specialist in K-12 schools in Philadelphia, PA, New York, NY, and Raleigh, NC.

Tammy graduated with a B.A. in anthropology from the Colorado College, an M.S.Ed. in elementary education from the University of Pennsylvania, and an Ed.D. in curriculum and teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University.