Apr 26, 2017 10:59 AM EDT By Anne Collins, UniversityHerald Reporter

The Association of California School Administrators has named Trudy Tuttle Arriaga as Professor of Education of the Year. The California Lutheran University faculty member is the Distinguished Educator in Residence who will receive the state award on Nov. 3 at the ACSA annual leadership Summit in San Jose.

After retiring as superintended of the Ventura Unified School District, she joined Cal Lutheran's faculty as a full time staff teacher after serving as an adjunct for nine years. For 14 years, Arriaga served as the district's first female superintendent.

She teaches in the university's new Institute for Executive Leadership in Education certificate program for administrators, master's and doctoral programs. The former superintendent and Ventura resident has taught at the university level for more than two decades.

Michael Hillis, dean of Cal Lutheran's School of Education said Arriaga is one of the strongest educators he has come across in many years in education. Hillis added how Arriaga draws students in the program and provides them with relevant and provocative instruction. She cares deeply about how the students develop through experience, he added.

In 2015, Arriaga co-wrote "Opening Doors: An Implementation Template for Cultural Proficiency" with Randall P. Lindsey. She has travelled across the country to help school districts improve student engagement and achievement.

In 2013, she was named as State Administrator of the Year by the California Association for Bilingual Education. ACSA presented her with the Marcus Foster Memorial Award for Administrator Excellence, Cal Lutheran reported.

In 2015, she was awarded Woman of the Year for the 37th Assembly District and 19th Senate District. She was Ventura's Citizen of the Year in 2012.

She earned her bachelor's degree from San Diego State University, master's degree in educational administration and supervision from California State University, Northridge and doctorate in educational policy, planning and administration from the University of Southern California.

Cal Lutheran's Graduate School of Education has helped more than 8,000 teachers, counselors, administrators, principals and superintendents for careers in K-12 and university systems. They offer multiple master's degree, doctoral and credential programs in Oxnard, Santa Maria, Thousand Oaks, Woodland Hills and online.

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