Bruce I. Matsui, Ed.D., Faculty Fellow

Bruce I. Matsui, Ed.D. is a professor at the School of Educational Studies at Claremont Graduate University. He also serves as Faculty Fellow with the Institute at Indian Hill, an organizational research unit of the School of Educational Studies, which he co-founded and directed for a number of years. In addition to teaching graduate level courses in education, professor Matsui developed an innovative cohort-based Ph.D. program targeting school leaders in urban communities, launched in the fall of 1998. He received his Ed. D. from the University of Southern California’s School of Education, concentrating in the areas of Organizational Development, Leadership and Curriculum and Instruction. 

Professor Matsui spent twenty-five years in public primary and secondary schools, most recently holding the position of Deputy Superintendent at Pasadena Unified School District. Prior to that assignment, he served as Director of the Los Angeles County School Leadership Center. In addition, Dr. Matsui served as a principal for fourteen years in the Montebello Unified School District. During the course of his career, Professor Matsui has benefited from experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in Aguilares, El Salvador and as a VISTA volunteer in Brooklyn, New York.

Dr. Matsui’s interests in public schooling, especially with respect to breaking predictable cycles of failure associated with gender, poverty, and race, were shaped by his experiences over the last twenty-five years. His current scholarly pursuits include integrating theoretical ideas associated with systems-thinking, social constructivism (Vygotsky), semiotics (meaning making), glocal thinking (global thinking coupled with local action), and voluntary simplicity; and making them usable, authentic and routine for public school stakeholders.