Gevirtz School Alumnus, Dr. James Ford, has recently been appointed as Chief of Staff for the Division of Academic Planning at UC Berkeley. He transitions to this role after serving as Director of Summer Sessions at UC Santa Barbara since 2017, which has now been filled by Gevirtz School Alumna, Dr. Leesa Beck. The Division of Academic Planning oversees the overall academic direction of UC Berkeley, stewards space in university facilities, and facilitates strategic international partnerships.
Dr. Ford earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Education at UC Santa Barbara in 2013. His thesis was “Course Management System Interaction Analysis: A Study of Current Adopters of an Established Course Management System.” First appointed as Associate Director in 2014, Ford served as Interim Director of Summer Sessions from March 2016 to May 2017. He previously worked for six years in Instructional Technology positions in the College of Letters and Science and the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, and received his M.A. in Technical Communication and B.A. in English from Texas Tech University.