Dr. Tamara (Tammy) Spencer joined the GCOE community in 2023. As Associate Dean, she supports the Dean and the college community in enacting the college’s Statement of Purpose and Guiding Commitments and advancing the strategic goals and priorities. She collaborates with departmental faculty and staff on various initiatives, including curricular development, accreditation, assessment, student services, and support. Before joining SFSU, Dr. Spencer served as Associate Dean and faculty in the Kalmanovitz School of Education at Saint Mary’s College of California (Moraga, CA) and Associate Professor and Program Director at Montclair State University (Montclair, NJ). Dr. Spencer is an active scholar in her field of early childhood literacy development and teacher education. She has published in numerous academic venues, including Language Arts, Young Children, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, Complementary Methods for Research in Education, and the Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy. Dr. Spencer spent the first ten years of her career teaching first and second grade and served as a literacy administrator and K-3 reading specialist in schools in Philadelphia, PA, New York, NY, and Raleigh, NC.