Esteemed educator and leader Acacia M. Warren, EdD, is the associate director of the Bruin Resource Center at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she provides crucial support, resources, and guidance to students, helping them navigate the complexities of the university system. Dr. Warren values direct contact with students, which keeps her grounded and connected to their needs. Prior to this role, she was the managing director of the Prison Education Program at UCLA from 2023 to 2024, committed to individuals impacted by the justice system. Concurrently, Dr. Warren is the founder and president of Acacia Tree Learning Services, offering expertise in project-based learning, educational leadership, and entrepreneurship since 2015. Her company launched an Amazon toy store in 2023 and has produced two children’s books and eight educational music videos.
Adjacent to her primary professional positions, Dr. Warren founded RRISE UP in 2021, an initiative aimed at reimagining inclusion, science, and education. The vision of RRISE UP is to support empowered students, educators, and leaders to use their agency, lived experience, and cultural wealth to enact meaningful changes in their schools, communities, and the larger world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she focused on offering scholarships to first-generation students, firmly believing in the significant impact even a $500 scholarship could have by enabling these students to be the first in their families to attend college.
Dr. Warren’s transition to higher education began after earning her doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Southern California in 2014. Initially, she faced challenges in her career shift but embraced the opportunity to teach as an adjunct faculty member at California State University-Dominguez Hills from 2017 to 2018. Her dedication and hard work quickly led to her becoming a single-subject academic coordinator and lecturer at UC Irvine, serving from 2018 to 2023. At UC Irvine, she gained invaluable experience and insight into the higher education system, finding the transition from K-12 education to higher education rewarding and fulfilling. Dr. Warren’s extensive background in K-12 education includes a rich history with the Los Angeles Unified School District, in which she held key roles from 2005 to 2017, including as a teacher, coach, Response to Intervention (RtI) expert, Common Core facilitator, assistant principal, and district coordinator. Her journey in education began earlier in the Oakland Unified School District in 2003. Moreover, Dr. Warren’s commitment to justice-impacted students started early in her career, highlighted by her work as a teacher at Alameda County Juvenile Hall for two summers.
Further, Dr. Warren is an accomplished author, having written “Cognitive Upgrade: An Educator’s Guide for Shaping Success” in 2019 and “Project-Based Learning Across the Disciplines: Plan, Manage, and Assess Through +1 Pedagogy” in 2016, published by Corwin: A SAGE Company. Notably, she was selected to be a part of the University of California Women’s Initiative for Professional Development in 2024 and received a certificate of appreciation from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office in 2015. Dr. Warren also was honored with the Inspirational Teacher Award by United Way in 2014, being named one of the 25 LAUSD Teachers to Watch out of 29,000 teachers. To stay active and engaged in her field, she is a member of the American Educational Research Association, the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice, the International Society for Technology in Education, and the California Council on Teacher Education.
Beginning her own higher education at the University of California, Riverside, Dr. Warren earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies, graduating cum laude in 2001. In 2003, she completed a Master of Education at the University of California, Berkeley, and in 2010, she graduated from California State University-Dominguez Hills with an additional master’s degree in educational administration. Concluding her academic efforts at the University of Southern California in 2014, Dr. Warren graduated with a Doctor of Education in educational leadership. In addition to her formal degrees, she holds a teaching credential in education from the University of California, Berkeley, a certificate in Strategy Execution for Public Leadership from Harvard Online, and various advanced training certifications, including in adaptive schools, cognitive coaching, restorative justice, and gifted and talented education.
Dr. Warren ascribes her success to her upbringing in a community where education was seen as a privilege rather than a right. Her experiences as a young girl living in another country inspired her to pursue a career in education, fueling her passion for making a positive impact in this field. Away from work, Dr. Warren enjoys going on cruises, traveling the world, writing poetry, and spending time with her family.