Alan graduated from Clark University with a BA in Psychology, received a MS in Counseling from San Diego State University, and a MA and Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis in Educational Leadership and Organizations from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Over the last 15 years, Alan has held a wide variety of positions in public education ranging from classroom teacher to district psychologist to site administrator. In addition to his K-12 public education experience, Alan has most recently been the Program Director for the Center for Educational Leadership and Effective Schools at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he collaboratively supported the delivery of high quality services and research to 5 school districts focusing on the rigorous examination of strengths, building leadership capacity, and facilitating the potential of systems for transformation.
Alan has presented at the local, state, and national level around conflict mediation, the creation and maintenance of positive school cultures, and the impact of current accountability structures. As a licensed educational psychologist, he has also provided consultation to school districts working to build and sustain systemic leadership capacity, district reform, and implementation of adult and student conflict mediation systems. Alan’s research interests include social capital, the analysis of social networks, trust, educational policy, and the building of strengths-based systems of support.