Trudy Tuttle Arriaga

Trudy Tuttle Arriaga, Ed.D., is an educator and author with a more than 40‑year career in K–12 and higher education leadership. She served the Ventura Unified School District in California for 14 years as its first female superintendent, following earlier roles as a paraeducator, teacher, assistant principal, principal, director, and district‑level administrator. In recognition of her service, the district named its central office the VUSD Trudy Tuttle Arriaga Education Service Center. She has also taught at the university level since the 1990s and has held positions in the Graduate School of Education at California Lutheran University, including Dean of Equity and Outreach, Distinguished Educator in Residence, and program director in educational leadership.

Arriaga is the coauthor of several works on educational equity and leadership, including Women Mentoring Women for Momentum: The Next Step in Leading While Female, a call to action on mentorship and gender equity in leadership, as well as Leading While Female: A Culturally Proficient Response for Gender Equity, its companion My Leading While Female Journal, and Opening Doors: An Implementation Template for Cultural Proficiency.