Jennifer Imazeki is a Senate Distinguished Professor and Professor of Economics at San Diego State University where she also serves as the Associate Vice President for Faculty and Staff Diversity in the Division of Student Affairs and Campus Diversity. Since joining the SDSU faculty in 2000, she has taught a range of economics courses, from a 500-seat section of Principles of Microeconomics to a writing-intensive course for economics majors (for details, see Teaching page). She also designed a data analysis course with a particular focus on quantitative literacy, which led to working with Mark Maier to write a new edition of The Data Game: Controversies in Social Science Statistics. In all of her courses, she uses active learning approaches, and has been an advocate for active learning in general, particularly using technology and team-based learning. Her contributions to the economics education community include several journal articles and book chapters on various aspects of teaching economics and she writes one of the few blogs focused on teaching economics.

Dr. Imazeki’s interest in education and good teaching extends beyond the university level. She has worked on several projects to train middle and high school teachers in using economics to teach Common Core skills, and she created an Economics for Teachers course for SDSU undergrads working toward their single-subject teaching credential in social science. This dovetails with her research on the economics of K-12 education, including work on school finance reform, adequacy and teacher labor markets. She has published several articles on education policy in a range of professional journals, books and policy outlets (see CV for details and links), and provided analysis for multiple court cases related to educational adequacy. Most recently, she contributed to the Getting Down to Facts II project, an in-depth look at California’s PreK-12 education landscape.

In her previous administrative role as Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, Dr. Imazeki initiated multiple programs to promote inclusive teaching practices and to engage faculty in scholarly evaluation of their teaching. She is Past-President of the Faculty Development Council, representing faculty developers in the California State University system, and has been an invited keynote speaker at multiple faculty development events.

Dr. Imazeki received her Bachelor’s degree from Pomona College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, all in economics.

In the news:

"California schools under-funded by $22 billion, according to new report" - KUSI Good Morning San Diego, Sept 28 2018

"Major Report on California's Education System Finds Strengths among Lingering Weaknesses" - KCBS radio, Sept 20, 2018

"Experts Recommend California’s Next Governor Stay The Course On Brown’s Ed Reforms" - KPBS, Sept 18, 2018