Dr. Amelia Herrera-Nakamura is a 17 year veteran public school teacher in Modesto, California, where she has spent the last 15 years serving H.S. level newcomer students. Since her first year working with newcomers in 2009, Dr. Herrera-Nakamura has been an advocate for English Learners and newcomer students across the state of California and across the country, working with organizations such as Teach Plus, PACE, Californians Together, and CalNEW Program through the CA Department of Social Services Office of Immigrant Youth. Specifically, Dr. Herrera-Nakamura has served as a Teach Plus Policy Fellow, an advisor for their National Policy Advising Committee, and is currently serving as an alumni mobilizer for their Emergent Bilingual Change Agent Network. Most recently, she is a graduate of the English Learner Leadership and Legacy Institute (ELLLI); an EL advocacy training program sponsored by Californians Together. Fom 2020-2022 Dr. Herrera-Nakamura played a role as expert practitioner on the Policy Analysis for California Education’s (PACE) Newcomer Research-Policy-Practice-Partnership. She is also an instructor and pre-service teacher supervisor for CSU, Stanislaus’ bilingual teaching credential program, where she teaches Literacy Across Content in the Bilingual Classroom and Educational Experiences of the Latinx Diaspora. Outside of the English Learner space, Dr. Herrera co-wrote the most recent Social Emotional Learning Policy for the California Department of Education. She is also the co-author of Community Equity Audits: Communities and Schools Working Together to Eliminate the Opportunity Gap, (2019). Dr. Herrera-Nakamura is also the long-time CFO for The United Black Student Unions of California, a non-profit organization that serves as the governing body for most Black Student Unions on high school campuses across California.
