Sandra Graham, Distinguished Professor of Education and the University of California Presidential Chair in Education and Diversity, has been elected 2016-17 vice chair/chair-elect of the UCLA Academic Senate. Graham will assist incoming chair Susan Cochran, professor of epidemiology, during the coming academic year and will assume the post of 2017-18 chair.
A faculty member of the human development and psychology division in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, Graham has served in numerous roles in the senate, including leadership of the Council on Academic Personnel, a 14-member body that is charged with maintaining standards and equity of the tenure and promotion process for faculty campuswide.
Graham has major research interests in academic motivation and social development in children of color, particularly in school contexts that vary in racial and ethnic diversity. Among her many honors and awards, she was elected in 2015 to the National Academy of Education and received the 2014 E. L. Thorndike Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Educational Psychology from the American Psychological Association.
She earned a B.A. in history from Barnard College, an M.A. in history from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in education from UCLA.