Trudy T. Arriaga

Dr. Trudy T. Arriaga served the Ventura Unified School District for 14 years as the first female superintendent.  She began her career as a trilingual paraeducator and enjoyed 40 years of service in education as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, director, superintendent and university instructor at all levels.  
Trudy retired as superintendent in July 2015 and was honored by the naming of the VUSD District Office, The VUSD Trudy Tuttle Arriaga Education Service Center.  She recently retired from Cal Lutheran University as a faculty member in the Educational Leadership Department in the Graduate School of Education.  Trudy is the co-author, with her esteemed colleague Dr. Randall B. Lindsey of Opening Doors: An Implementation Template for Cultural Proficiency, which delivers a compelling account on how leaders can create and expand cultures of inclusion and equity by dismantling and crafting new organizational policies and practices on behalf of the students they serve.  Her second book, “Leading While Female:  A Culturally Proficient Response to Gender Equity” and co-authored with Dr. Delores Lindsey and Dr. Stacie Stanley offers a counter narrative and strategies to overcome the barriers of women in educational leadership, followed by the companion journal, “My Leading While Female Journal”.  It has been her privilege to assist educational districts, institutions and organizations throughout the United States through keynote speeches, workshops, leadership and equity institutes and online professional development to align the actions of the organization with their stated values and principles in their effort to build a culturally proficient and inclusive organization for each and every one.   Trudy and her husband, Raymundo, are enjoying this grand chapter of life as grandparents to Rayo Mana and Sofia Anuhea.  Trudy can be contacted at trudyarriaga73@gmail.com