Full Biography for Roger D. Graziani

Candidate for
Governing Board Member; Monrovia Unified School District

Roger Graziani has been a member of the Monrovia Board of Education for sixteen years, serving as its President three times. Mr. Graziani also serves on the Monrovia Schools Foundation and the Monrovia Cable Commission. Mr. Graziani has been a resident of Monrovia for twenty-two years and has two grown daughters.

He graduated from Michigan State University with honors and attended graduate school at the University of Southern California. He has received fellowships to both UCLA and Cal State Northridge. In 1993, he was an L.A. County Music Center Bravo Award nominee and a Fulbright Teacher award winner. He is now a voting member for the Ovation Awards, which bestows honors on professional theatre groups in Southern California.

Career-wise, Mr. Graziani has worked as a businessman, writer and for the last twenty years as a teacher and stage director. He has taught English, History, Journalism, Theatre, and History of the Cinema. He presently holds a position at Charter Oak High School with the International Baccalaureate Program. Additionally, he is currently working to create an international curriculum of study for film courses at the high school and college levels.

Mr. Graziani is a member of the California Educational Theatre Association Governing Board where he is working on setting credential standards for teachers in the field of the arts. He has served as President of the Drama Teachers' Association of Southern California for nine years. In 1996, Mr. Graziani was selected as one of the Most Influential Teachers in California by the University of California, San Diego. Last year, Mr. Graziani was one of five Americans selected to direct and perform at the Globe Theatre in London, England.

As an educator, he sees the continuing necessity to strengthen and improve the standards of the curriculum in Monrovia Schools. He also plans to increase parent involvement in schools and to keep Monrovia Unified School District competitive for the best teachers.