EdSource Staff
Management
Deborah Clark
CEO
Deborah assumed the role of EdSource CEO in January 2025. She has spent an award-winning career in mission-driven storytelling, both as a journalist and as an executive. For many years she was the general manager of public radio’s Marketplace, where she led the enterprise’s transformation from a legacy broadcast operation into a multi-platform shop, including the launch of several successful podcasts including “Make Me Smart,” “The Uncertain Hour”and “Millions Bazillions.” She has worked across public media in television and radio, and in addition to stints at NPR and the PBS newsmagazine California Connected, she had a hand in the launch of public radio programs like “Weekend America” and “The Takeaway.” She has driven collaborations with organizations including The New York Times, the BBC and “Frontline.” More recently, she was a senior fellow at the Difference Engine, an interdisciplinary center at Arizona State University that creates tools and products that address inequality. Contact Deborah Clark.
Adam Eisenberg
Managing Editor
Adam works closely with the CEO to oversee editorial content and standards. Previously, Adam served as Senior Editor of Community Engagement at Patch, leading the company’s efforts to drive participatory journalism among residents of the more than 1,200 local communities that Patch serves. In that position, he relied heavily on audience data to inform strategic decisions while working directly with more than 4,000 Patch contributors, including key local government officials and leaders across the country, as well as nearly 200 new partners. Prior to joining Patch, Adam spent two years as an assistant professor of journalism in the State University of New York system. Before moving into the classroom, Adam spent more than a decade at the South Florida Sun Sentinel, eventually leading the newsroom’s digital and audience development teams, along with a team of metro reporters, as Audience Development Editor. Adam lives in Carmichael, California with his wife and two daughters, ages 5 and 7. Contact Adam Eisenberg.
John Fensterwald
Editor-At-Large
John joined EdSource in 2012. For three years before that, he was founder and editor of the “The Educated Guess” website, a source of California education policy reporting, sponsored by the Silicon Valley Education Foundation. For the preceding 11 years, John wrote editorials for the Mercury News in San Jose, with a focus on education. He worked as a reporter, news editor and opinion editor for three newspapers in New Hampshire before receiving a Knight Fellowship at Stanford University in 1997. His wife is a retired teacher, and their daughter is a neurology resident at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center. Contact John Fensterwald or view his author archive.
Dympna Ugwu-Oju
K-12 Editor
Dympna recently was the Senior Editor of Fresnoland, a nonprofit news organization focused on stories at the intersection of the environment, development, neighborhoods, and inequality in the central San Joaquin Valley. Before Fresnoland, Ugwu-Oju was the full-time instructor of journalism at Fresno City College where she ran and maintained the program, wrote the curriculum, recruited students, advised the college newspaper, coached and mentored hundreds of aspiring journalists. Ugwu-Oju’s widely anthologized writing has been published extensively in national newspapers and magazines, including Newsweek and the New York Times. Her first book, “What Will My Mother Say” (A Tribal African Girl Comes of Age in America) describes Ugwu-Oju’s childhood in the traditional Ibo culture of Nigeria and chronicles her war-torn childhood. She has presented numerous writing workshops and lectures on her writing, race and multicultural sensitivity and awareness. Contact Dympna Ugwu-Oju.
Thalia Henderson
Director of Development
Thalia Henderson is Director of Development for EdSource. Previously, she was Director of Development for the nonprofit media organization Fostering Media Connections, where she ensured coverage of foster youth, youth justice, and youth homelessness was well-supported. In that position, she kept close track of the impact made by strong journalism in order to grow funding from grants, individual donations, and corporations. She began her career in direct services, providing employment case management to transition age foster youth in South LA at The RightWay Foundation, where she also started fundraising. Thalia is a graduate of University of Southern California with B.A. degrees in Creative Writing and Social Sciences and lives in Los Angeles, California. Contact Thalia Henderson.
Smita Patel
Director, Communications and Partnerships
Smita coordinated the design and launch of the very first real EdSource website in 2000-01. She now leads EdSource’s web and communications team as well as EdSource’s work on the Ed-Data website and other partnerships and collaborations. She also coordinates commentaries for EdSource. For more than five years, she volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) mentoring foster youth, through which she gained a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing California’s young people. She co-founded the Mountain Children’s Foundation, a project to empower children in rural mountain communities in the Indian Himalaya. She holds a B.A. with honors in Journalism from San Jose State University. Contact Smita Patel.
Operations
Maria Ascencio
Office Manager and Executive Assistant
Maria joined EdSource in March 2024. Before EdSource, she was the Associate Director of Operations at Year Up, Bay Area. Her work at Year Up involved helping the Bay Area’s young adults acquire the skills needed to secure jobs beyond minimum wage and close the opportunity divide in the United States. Prior to that, Maria had a 30-year career in the fashion industry, where she specialized in design support and product development. Maria graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM). Maria enjoys the arts and music. Her favorite pastime is expressing herself creatively through the arts. Contact Maria Ascencio.
Staff Writers
Michael Burke
Staff Reporter
Michael Burke covers higher education, including California’s community colleges and the University of California. Since joining EdSource in 2019, he has covered major stories including the steep enrollment declines at community colleges; the elimination of standardized tests in university admissions; efforts to improve California’s community college transfer system; and more. He graduated from Syracuse University in 2018, where he studied journalism and political science. He lives in Los Angeles. Contact Michael Burke or view his author archive.
Amy DiPierro
Staff Reporter
Amy DiPierro covers higher education. She was previously a data reporter for the Center for Public Integrity. While at Public Integrity, her reporting on students experiencing homelessness received a special citation from the Philip Meyer Journalism Award, which honors journalism using social science research methods. Amy previously reported for The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif. and BusinessDen in Denver, Colo. She is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Stanford University, where she was a Knight-Hennessy Scholar and contributed to projects at Big Local News. Contact Amy DiPierro or view her author archive.
Karen D’Souza
Staff Reporter
Karen D’Souza covers arts education, literacy, and early education. She is an award-winning writer who came to EdSource after covering lifestyle, parenting, health, housing, travel and the arts for the San Jose Mercury News. She is a four-time Pulitzer juror and her writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times and American Theatre Magazine. She has an MA in journalism and a BA in political science and dramatic art from UC Berkeley. Connect on Twitter at @KarenDSouza4, email Karen D’Souza or view her author archive.
Emma Gallegos
Staff Reporter
Emma Gallegos covers equity in education and is based in the Central Valley. Emma has spent more than a decade in journalism, having worked at the Pasadena Star-News, LAist and Gothamist before returning to the Central Valley, where she grew up. Emma also spent a few valuable years in the classroom as a substitute teacher in the Bakersfield City School District. She also comes from a family of educators: her mom is a retired district administrator and her father was a superintendent and professor. Most recently, Emma worked at her hometown paper, The Bakersfield Californian, covering the Kern County education beat. She lives in Bakersfield. You can find her on Twitter at @emmagallegos, email Emma Gallegos or view her author archive.
Diana Lambert
Staff Reporter
Diana Lambert covers teachers and teaching. Before coming to EdSource, Diana was an education reporter for The Sacramento Bee for more than a decade. She has won numerous awards, including the 2017 James Madison Freedom of Information Award from the Society of Professional Journalism, and both a first-place honor for investigative reporting from The Inland Press Association and the McClatchy President’s Award in 2016. Before becoming an education reporter Diana was a bureau chief for the Sacramento Bee. She began her career at age 17 as a part-time proofreader for the Lodi News-Sentinel. Diana earned a B.A. from California State University, Sacramento. Contact Diana Lambert or view her author archive.
Betty Márquez Rosales
Staff Reporter
Betty Márquez Rosales covers juvenile justice, youth homelessness and other education topics. Before joining EdSource, she worked on reporting projects for Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley. Betty’s stories have appeared in The New York Times, Fusion, and local news publications across California. She has worked in education and communications, earned a Master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in gender studies from UC Santa Barbara. Contact Betty Márquez Rosales or view her author archive.
Thomas Peele
Investigative Reporter
Thomas Peele is a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter. His journalism career began in 1983 at a small weekly newspaper. He has a B.A. in journalism from Long Island University and an MFA in writing from the University of San Francisco. In addition to his Pulitzer for stories on the tragic Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, he has won more that 70 journalism awards including the (Ralph) McGill Medal for Journalistic Courage, and the Tom Renner Award from Investigative Reporters and Editors for reporting on organized crime. He is also the author of Killing the Messenger, a book about the 2007 assassination of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey. Prior to joining EdSource in 2020, he was an investigative reporter for the Bay Area News Group for 20 years. He is also a continuing lecturer at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Contact Thomas Peele or view his author archive.
Vani Sanganeria
Staff Reporter
Vani Sanganeria covers student health and wellbeing as EdSource’s Local News Fellow, a partnership with the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. At USC’s student newsroom, Annenberg Media, she served as South Los Angeles editor, equity board leader and investigative reporter. Her work has been published in L.A. Public Press, Knock L.A. and L.A. TACO, among others. She lives in Los Angeles and is originally from Kolkata, India. Contact Vani Sanganeria or view her author archive.
Mallika Seshadri
Staff Reporter
Mallika Seshadri covers education in Los Angeles, including LAUSD, for EdSource. Previously, she interned with NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “National Desk” and covered higher education for the CalMatters College Beat. Her reporting has been published by The San Francisco Chronicle, ABC, CBS and NPR member stations across the country. Mallika holds a BA with distinction in political science and global studies from UC Berkeley, where she served as the managing editor of The Daily Californian. She is currently pursuing an MA in Specialized Journalism at the University of Southern California, where she is a Selden Ring Fellow for investigative journalism. Contact Mallika Seshadri or view her author archive.
Zaidee Stavely
Staff Reporter
Zaidee Stavely covers immigration and education for EdSource and hosts the weekly podcast, Education Beat. She is a bilingual print and radio reporter who has worked in Mexico and the U.S. She has covered education, immigration, environmental justice and traditional arts for KQED, Radio Bilingüe, and Public Radio International’s “The World,” among other outlets. Zaidee has won numerous awards for her journalism, including an Emmy, a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award, an Excellence in Journalism Award from SPJ Northern California, and the Rubén Salazar Award from CCCNMA: Latino Journalists of California. She grew up in rural Mendocino County, where both her parents taught in public one-room schoolhouses. She has a Master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. in Latin American and Latino Studies and Community Studies from UC Santa Cruz. She lives in Oakland with her husband and two children. Contact Zaidee Stavely or view her author archive.
Lasherica Thornton
Staff Reporter
Lasherica Thornton covers education in California’s Central Valley. Prior to joining EdSource, Lasherica Thornton was the Engagement Reporter for The Fresno Bee’s Education Lab in Fresno, CA where her reporting earned her a John Swett Award from the California Teachers Association. Previously, she was the Education & Features Reporter for The Jackson Sun, a USA Today Network paper, where she covered the educational systems for more than 13 counties. Her work garnered recognition with the Tennessee Press Association as well as local entities. A Mississippi native, Lasherica started her journalistic career in the eighth grade as a reporter and editor for her high school newspaper. In college, she reported for her college and community newspapers and interned in Pennsylvania, covering state government and writing for six publications, including The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Contact Lasherica Thornton or view her author archive.
Monica Velez
Staff Reporter
Monica Velez is an award-winning reporter who started covering K-12 education in 2020, starting out in The Fresno Bee’s Education Lab and most recently for The Seattle Times Education Lab. Before moving to Seattle in 2021, Velez spent about five years reporting in California’s San Joaquin Valley. She reported on immigration for Valley Public Radio and got her start in journalism at The Merced Sun-Star as a health reporter. Velez, a Bay Area native and daughter of Salvadoran immigrants, graduated from California State University, Sacramento with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in creative writing. Contact Monica Velez or view her author archive.
Web, Data, Graphics & Audience Engagement
Justin Allen
Web Design and Development Manager
Justin Allen is an award-winning visual journalist and web designer. He joined EdSource in 2016 and through 2021 led development of the EdSource website and digital media projects, as well as supporting the reporting staff on investigative and data journalism. He rejoined the team in 2023. Prior to EdSource, he worked for leading digital advocacy organizations, non-profits, online publishers and content-driven technology startups. Justin received a BA from San Francisco State University and an MA from the University of Illinois at Chicago, both in English. Contact Justin Allen or view his author archive.
Andrew Reed
Digital Communication and Community Engagement Manager
As EdSource’s digital communication and community engagement manager, Andrew Reed manages the EdSource Community Network, social media, and collaborates with the special project reporting team. Andrew came to EdSource in 2019 from Idaho Education News. He has won multiple journalism awards, including a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award, California News Publishers Association and Idaho Press Club awards. Andrew is a Southern California native and began his career in television news. Andrew graduated from California State University, Fullerton. Contact Andrew Reed or view his author archive.
Daniel J. Willis
Data Analyst and Database Designer
Prior to joining EdSource, Daniel J. Willis spent 10 years at the Oakland Tribune, Contra Costa Times, and San Jose Mercury News in a variety of roles. His work has been honored by the Education Writers of America, Northern California Society of Professional Journalists, California Newspaper Publishers Association, and White House Correspondents Association among others. He is an alumnus of the University of California at Santa Cruz where he studied economics. You can find him on Twitter at @BayAreaData or reach him by email, secure email via PGP, or by phone or Signal at 510-585-4944. View his author archive.
Yuxuan (Sunny) Xie
Data Visualization Specialist
As EdSource’s data visualization specialist, Yuxuan Xie designs graphics, interactive charts, maps and React apps from enormous education datasets. Her data visualization pieces for the EdSource special project, “Tainted Taps: Lead Puts California Children at Risk,” won the 2018 National Awards For Education Reporting in the category of Best Visual Storytelling. Yuxuan received an M.A. in Fine Arts from the Interactive Media Program of University of Miami and a BA in Journalism from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in China. You can find her on Twitter at @SunnyMonkeyXie or email Yuxuan Xie. View her author archive.