A first generation Mexican American, Maria del Pilar O?Cadiz completed her MA in Latin American Studies along with an M.Ed. in Curriculum, Administration, and Teaching at the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to attending UCLA, O?Cadiz received a BA (a double major in Latin American Studies and Spanish) in 1986 from Oberlin College. As an undergraduate she studied at the University of Cordoba in Spain, and at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil during her graduate studies. She completed her doctorate studies at UCLA in 1996 and was awarded the Comparative and International Education Society?s Gail Kelly Outstanding Dissertation Award for her dissertation, The Politics of Schooling in Brazil: A Freirean Curriculum Reform in the Municipal Schools of São Paulo. This research was published in Anthropology and Education Quarterly, UNESCO, in several book chapters, and in a coauthored book, Education and Democracy: Paulo Freire, Social Movements and Educational Reform in São Paulo. (O?Cadiz, M. P., Torres, C. A., and Lindquist Wong, P., 1998).<BR><BR>From 1997-2000, O?Cadiz held various teaching positions, as a visiting professor at Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena and as an adjunct professor at Antioch University in Los Angeles and California State University, Fullerton. In 2000, she became executive director of the California After School Project (CASP) at the University of California, Irvine and later at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, working in partnership with the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) providing trainings and technical assistance for after school programs across Los Angeles County.<BR><BR>O?Cadiz initiated her after school program experience during her graduate studies at UCLA when she accepted a position as an educational program director and later became executive director of the Boyle Heights Elementary Institute, a community based organization serving Latino youth and their families in the urban immigrant enclave of East Los Angeles. It was during this time (in the early 1990s) that she established her view of after school settings as opportune spaces for supporting the broad developmental needs of diverse children and youth?particularly those with immigrant backgrounds?by engaging in them in meaningful learning experiences, connecting them to their communities, and building their sense of efficacy and civic responsibility. Her seven years working with the LACOE regional technical assistance effort brought O?Cadiz in contact with the immense array of community organizations and after school professionals and youth workers whose commitment to expand the learning opportunities for the children and youth they serve continues to inspire her scholarly interest in the after school field. She has worked, too, as a consultant providing after school evaluation services to the Los Angeles Unified School District and currently serves on the board of WriteGirl and California Living Histories (youth program providers). Her current research aims to contribute to the promotion of promising practices occurring in out-of-school time programs (in community and school settings) which support individual development of diverse youth, and the larger goals of social equity and democratic citizenship.<BR><BR>In January 2007, O?Cadiz returned to the University of California, Irvine as a Associate Research Specialist. She is currently working on a study?under Principal Investigators, Deborah Vandell and Mark Waschauer and co-researcher Valerie Hall?of a technology rich community learning center providing middle and high school students? career exploration experiences to diverse youth in Southern California. In addition to carrying out qualitative observations of the program?s activities, O?Cadiz has conducted case studies of a selected sample of participating youth and their parents to discern the role that the center plays in their lives, with a particular focus on the center as a transitional space for immigrant youth. She is also currently assisting in the initial stages of a study with Dr. Warschauer of a technology and curriculum school reform effort that is being carried at a private school in Southern California. <BR><BR>http://www.gse.uci.edu/person/ocadiz_m/ocadiz_m_bio.php
