Claudia Ramirez Wiedeman, PhD

Deputy Director, ASU Learning Transformation Studios

Claudia Ramirez Wiedeman is the Deputy Director of the Learning Transformation Studios.

Claudia leads strategic initiatives, develops cross-sector partnerships at the intersection of k-16 education, innovation and technology, and directs the day-to-day operations of the Learning Transformation Studios in Los Angeles.

Claudia brings decades of experience in higher education teaching, research and evaluation, fundraising and administration. As tenured professor at Whittier College and later at universities in San Francisco and Philadelphia, she taught courses on second language acquisition, equity in schools, literacy development, research methods and supervised student teaching practicum. Claudia also served as associate director at the Broadoaks Children’s School of Whittier College, where she led k-8th grade teacher professional development.

Before coming to ASU, Claudia served in various leadership roles over the course of ten years at the University of Southern California. Most recently, she served as Managing Director of the Center for Engagement-Driven Global Education at the Rossier School of Education, where she developed cross-sector strategic partnerships, facilitated research and led all Center operations.  Prior to that role, Claudia served as the Director of Research and Evaluation at the USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education. In this capacity, she led the strategic direction of the Institute’s global research and evaluation efforts, and established innovative partnerships and strategies that expanded global scholarship using the Institute’s Visual History Archive.

As Director of Education and Evaluation at the Shoah Foundation, Claudia led the strategic direction of the Institute’s educational program and content strategy, developed global partnerships and established guidelines, standards and policy for the educational use of the Institute’s Holocaust and genocide testimony in the Visual History Archive. Claudia also led and contributed to the development of AI and VR-enabled educational products, including a smartphone app and website interface, as well as other material for k-university students and educators for the Institute’s flagship educational platform, IWitness. Claudia played a significant role in securing a $10 million gift for the Institute’s groundbreaking Willesden Project, a multilingual and multi-format global education program.

Claudia has published and presented on her scholarly work, most recently on cross-sector partnerships at the American Educational Research Association annual meeting.

Claudia immigrated to the US and grew up in the Boyle Heights community of Los Angeles. She earned a B.A. and Ph.D. from UCLA. Claudia’s joy is learning to paint, watch documentaries, travel, and eat her way all over the city of LA with family, friends and her 16 year-old schnoodle, Lexie.