Meet the Staff
Alex Claxton
Responsibilities: Leading the college's Planning, Research, Innovation, and Effectiveness (PRIE) office and serving as the Accreditation Liaison Officer. Overseeing strategic planning, data analysis, institutional assessment, and collaborative innovation in alignment with college and district goals.
Professional skills and interests: Extracting insights from data, data visualization and dashboarding, Strategic Enrollment Management, and continuous improvement
Years at CSM: Since 2026 (and 23-24), District since 2017
Education: PhD, Cognitive Psychology, Colorado State University
Other Interests: Curling, board games, craft beer/homebrewing, and video games
Monique Nakagawa
Professional skills and interests: Applied social research (surveys, focus groups, key informant interviews, environmental scans); research protocols; program design; data design, analysis, interpretation, and synthesis; educational equity; SPSS, NVivo, Qualtrics.
Responsibilities: Oversight of research, planning, and institutional effectiveness activities; strategic planning; accreditation.
Years at CSM: Since 2011
Education: M.A. Geography (Urban), San Francisco State University; B.A., Social Sciences and French, UC Berkeley
Other Interests: Sustainability, native gardening, urbanism, poverty, subcultural geographies, cats
Heeju Jang
Title: Planning and Research Analyst
Professional Skills and Interests: Tableau, SPSS, Qualtrics, Mixed method research, formative assessment and evaluation,
and faculty-led inquiry projects, T-Group (Interpersonal and Group Dynamics) facilitation.
Responsibilities: Guided Pathways, Promise, HSI III/V, survey design and data analysis, data coaching
and evaluation of professional development.
Years at CSM: Since 2018
Education: PhD, Education (Quantitative Methods and Evaluation)
Other Interests: Clay art, painting, writing, and indoor gardening
Edgardo Molina Carlos
Title: Administrative Assistant
Professional Skills and Interests: Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Creative Suite, and web-based content management systems,
Banner, organizing data, tracking and maintaining data in electronic and manual files,
accounting and finance
Responsibilities: Use a database and a variety of spreadsheet and other computer software to set up,
track and maintain a wide variety of data and files, including educational and faculty
schedules, class schedules, budget and financial records, confidential student demographic
data, and other information as needed.
Years at CSM: Since 2024, District since 2021
Education: B.A. Ethnic Studies (Chicanx and Latinx Studies), Cal State East Bay
Other Interests: Arts, History, Computer engineering, Gaming, and automotive tuning.
June 8, 2026
June 19, 2026
July 8, 2026