Pamela Burdman has worked as a journalist, foundation officer, and researcher with an emphasis on higher education policy in California and nationally. Currently a senior project director with WestEd, she previously worked as a program officer for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, where she developed and implemented the foundation's community college grantmaking strategy. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, Salon, Lingua Franca, Change, National Crosstalk, the Far Eastern Economic Review and other publications. In addition to education issues, she has also written extensively about immigration, California politics, and Asian affairs. As a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, she received numerous awards, including the prestigious LIvingston Award for young journalists, for the 1994 "Bitter Voyage" series on the smuggling of Chinese immigrants into the United States. She also served as Associate Producer for Media Matters, a public television show about the media and taught journalism at City College of San Francisco. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, Pam is a graduate of Princeton University (Philosophy and East Asian Studies) and UC Berkeley (Business and Asian Studies). She lives in Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area.