Annamarie Francois, Ph.D.

UC Los Angeles
francois@gseis.ucla.edu

Dr. Francois is the Executive Director of UCLA's Center X, where her leadership guides the work of social justice educator preparation, development and support for urban school communities. Dr. Francois has 30+ years of teaching, teacher leadership and administrative experience in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the charter school community, and UCLA’s Department of Education. Dr. Francois is a pioneer in leading education innovation, having served as founding member of Vaughn Next Century Learning Center, the first grass roots charter school in California; establishing IMPACT, an innovative, community-based urban teacher residency program; launching the California chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education; and co-visioning the UCLA and Mann-UCLA Community Schools, university-supported public schools in high-needs communities in Los Angeles. Her areas of interest and expertise are teacher development, community schooling, multicultural literacy, equity-guided instruction, and school-university collaboration. She holds a bachelor’s degree in History (UCLA), a master’s degree in Administration, Supervision and Higher Education (California State University, Northridge) and a doctorate in Educational Leadership (UCLA).