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USF Faculty Member Nathan Alexander

Published

10 years ago

July 22, 2015

Dr. Nathan Alexander joined University of San Francisco in the Teacher Education Department as a visiting faculty member in fall 2014 and will continue in the Teacher Education Department as Assistant Professor beginning fall 2015.

Dr. Alexander recently talked to the School of Education about what inspired him to become an educator, how he wants to change the world, his favorite teaching moment, and more.

His responses:

Where did you grow up? I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. I currently live in Oakland and it reminds me of my hometown – mainly the community norms – which made the move from New York, where I was prior to California, that much better.

What inspired you to become an educator?

In college I had the opportunity to work with the Upward Bound program. I also worked as a TA in the mathematics department. I was pretty young and the students warmed up to me rather quickly—this is where I think it all began. The way that we approached learning mathematics was what eventually inspired me to commit to becoming an educator.

One of my mentors came to see me teach a few classes and she said I was a natural—I took that as advice to become a teacher. One thing that has been extremely rewarding for me is my ability to connect my mathematics teaching to sociological issues; I double majored in mathematics and sociology.

My trajectory has come full circle in many ways…down to me teaching social justice courses and continuing my work with Upward Bound here at USF.

What is one of your favorite teaching moments?

When I was a teacher in Harlem, I had a class of energetic and opinionated middle school students.

They had pretty bad experiences in the past with mathematics, so I decided that we’d start class by talking about what they felt other teachers had done “wrong.” I had them write up their notes and we created a plan for the year—this plan ultimately resulted in them having more faith in me as a brand new teacher and I also had a list of things I knew I should avoid!

I had no idea what I was doing then, but this is something I begin all of my classes – by having students reflect on their learning experiences.

What is one thing you are currently working on that excites you?

I am working on a project that utilizes advanced mathematics—from courses like Calculus, Statistics, Econometrics and Stochastic Modeling—to frame historical and critical issues in social and political domains.

This project focuses on critical pedagogy in mathematics as a means to support students’ identity development pathways and their mathematics self-efficacy beliefs. The real power in the project is that it is interdisciplinary in nature. I

have started to build a host of mathematical models to examine, for example, the impact of social movements on public opinion. Other examples include using an econometrics measure known as the Index of Dissimilarity (ID) to examine neighborhood composition and social contexts surrounding urban gentrification.

My current long-term plans for the project are to build a curriculum model and lessons that can be used in advanced mathematics courses—which, in theory, will generate a pipeline to get more students interested in taking more advanced mathematics courses. You can think of the current phase of the project as an iteration of critical social and cultural studies in mathematics.

What is something that people may be surprised to learn about you?

Outside of loving mathematics—if that isn’t yet obvious—I have a deep passion for the arts, especially dance. Growing up, I studied at the Children’s Theater of Charlotte.

As I got older, I was trained in ballet, hip-hop, step and African dance. During college, I was the lead choreographer for the Opeyo Dance Company, which is an all-black, student-led dance company. While I was living in New York, I attended classes regularly at the Ailey School and Broadway Dance Company—one of my best instructors at BDC was Luam, who taught me a thing or two about pedagogy.

I was also the step master for my fraternity—Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated—and in addition to bi-weekly community service, we won a few step competitions.

Courtesy of USF news at www.usfca.edu/templates/usf_news_comm.aspx?id=6442509105

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

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Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

6 months ago

June 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Special to The Post

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department (Oakland HCD) announced its awardees for the 2024-2025 New Construction of Multifamily Affordable Housing Notice of Funding Availability (New Construction NOFA) today Five permanently affordable housing developments received awards out of 24 applications received by the Department, with award amounts ranging from $7 million to $28 million.

In a statement released on Jan. 16, Oakland’s HCD stated, “Five New Construction Multifamily Affordable Housing Development projects awarded a total of $80.5 million to develop 583 affordable rental homes throughout Oakland. Awardees will leverage the City’s investments to apply for funding from the state and private entities.”

In December, the office of Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 City Councilmember, worked with HCD to allocate an additional $10 Million from Measure U to the funding pool. The legislation also readopted various capital improvement projects including street paving and upgrades to public facilities.

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is the media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

11 months ago

January 30, 2025

Oakland Post

Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 city councilmember. File photo.

Special to The Post

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units, including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Alameda County

Oakland Acquisition Company’s Acquisition of County’s Interest in Coliseum Property on the Verge of Completion

The Board of Supervisors is committed to closing the deal expeditiously, and County staff have worked tirelessly to move the deal forward on mutually agreeable terms. The parties are down to the final details and, with the cooperation of OAC and Coliseum Way Partners, LLC, the Board will take a public vote at an upcoming meeting to seal this transaction.

Published

11 months ago

January 11, 2025

Oakland Post

Alameda County Board of Supervisors Chairman David Haubert. Official photo.

Special to The Post

The County of Alameda announced this week that a deal allowing the Oakland Acquisition Company, LLC, (“OAC”) to acquire the County’s 50% undivided interest in the Oakland- Alameda County Coliseum complex is in the final stages of completion.

Oakland has already finalized a purchase and sale agreement with OAC for its interest in the property. OAC’s acquisition of the County’s property interest will achieve two longstanding goals of the County:

The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum complex will finally be under the control of a sole owner with capacity to make unilateral decisions regarding the property; and
The County will be out of the sports and entertainment business, free to focus and rededicate resources to its core safety net

In an October 2024 press release from the City of Oakland, the former Oakland mayor described the sale of its 50% interest in the property as an “historic achievement” stating that the transaction will “continue to pay dividends for generations to come.”

The Board of Supervisors is pleased to facilitate single-entity ownership of this property uniquely centered in a corridor of East Oakland that has amazing potential.

“The County is committed to bringing its negotiations with OAC to a close,” said Board President David Haubert.