People at the Center
Director
Librarian & Archivist
Archivist
Staff
Volunteer
Volunteer
Intern
Intern
Intern
Lori Clinchard
Director 2019 - Present
Lori Clinchard is the Humanities Department Chair at De Anza College and Faculty Director of the California History Center. She received her Ph.D. in Humanities, with a concentration in Transformative Learning and Change, from the California Institute of Integral Studies.
Her research interests are creativity, consciousness, and the pedagogy of experiential learning. Through FHDA’s Mellon Foundation-supported Center for Applied Humanities, she is developing an interview series to engage with artists and philosophers on the challenging questions arising out of the AI era.
She is a 4th generation Bay Area native, currently living in Santa Cruz. She has been teaching since 2001, and has been full-time at De Anza since 2005. She lived for 12 years in Taos, New Mexico, and 1 year in France, and still enjoys speaking French and Spanish. She loves the De Anza students, and wants her classes to give students opportunities to know themselves more deeply, to learn in ways that are meaningful to them, and to discover and respect what they already know.
Tom Izu
Director 2000 - 2019
Director Emeritus 2020 - Present
Tom Izu directed CHC's work in promoting local, regional and state history through publications, exhibits, oral history projects and courses, and the operation of a research library and archives. During his tenure with the center, he launched a civil liberties project inspired by the lessons learned from the World War II experience of Japanese Americans. He continues to serve its board as an advisor.
While a staff member of the college (1994 to 2001), Izu also served as a project director for the campus’ Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) US Department of Education grant funded program.
In addition, Izu has had extensive experience working in the San Jose Japanese American community, having served as the Executive Director of the Yu-Ai Kai Senior Center (1980s – early 1990s), and on the boards of numerous other Japantown community organizations. He was the first chairperson of the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (1980), which was involved in the campaign for redress during the 1980s for the Japanese American WWII mass incarceration.
He currently (2025) serves on the Advisory Board of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, helping to lead various grant funded projects with a special focus on public programming
that connects the community’s experience with other communities of color, especially
in regard to cultural and civil liberties concerns. One such project for which he
is a co-director is an augmented reality community art project, “The Hidden Histories of San Jose Japantown” (2020). It explores the stories of the Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino American
communities and their overlapping histories and connections in the
making of modern day Japantown.
His current activism includes being the co-founder of San Jose Nikkei Resisters, a grassroots, social change and advocacy organization for South Bay Japanese Americans, which is currently working on solidarity projects that include organizing Asian Americans to respond to anti-Asian harassment and violence as well as supporting the African American reparations movement. He also serves as a volunteer chapter leader for the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the ACLU of Northern California.
Lisa Christiansen
Archivist and Librarian 1988 - Present
Lisa Christiansen has served as the California History Center’s librarian and archivist for over 37 years. To us, she is the social heart of the center. She warmly welcomes everyone who stops by and engages in thoughtful conversation. Being so intimately familiar with the center’s library and collections, she pulls resources from the shelves that offer insight into any question or curiosity that is brought up. Please join us in celebrating Lisa and her extensive contributions to living history at CHC.
Saroj Bangaru
Assistant Archivist 2023 - Present
I’ve always been captivated by the past. Whether it was flipping through old photographs
my parents had stashed away in albums or listening to cassette tapes neatly arranged
in briefcases, I’ve always felt drawn to things with history. My favorite part of
the summer holidays was visiting my maternal grandmother, sitting with her and hearing
stories about her childhood. The nooks and crannies of her old house seemed to hold
memories, transporting me to another world.
My middle school introduction to the Harappan Civilization was a defining moment.
It was a spark that fueled my desire to study History academically. This journey eventually
led me to earn two master’s degrees in the subject. But, while this path felt natural
to me, I soon realized that formal history education often created a distance between
students and their more personal, intuitive connection to the past. As a teacher in
Hyderabad, India, for over twelve years, I focused on helping students build meaningful
connections with history encouraging them to ask questions, spot patterns of change,
and recognize how much of the past still shapes the present.
After moving to Cupertino, I began volunteering at the California History Center, where I work hands-on with archival and library collections. I initially focused on organizing materials that had been in storage, including relocating boxes and arranging administrative files by subject. Over time, my role expanded to include archival and librarian duties, and I am currently cataloging books that were previously in storage and integrating them into the De Anza College library catalog to make these resources more accessible to the public. I also collaborate with interns and volunteers to create catalog records for archival materials. Along the way, meeting with students and community members has helped me get to know the fabric and everyday life of the Bay Area.
Working with books, postcards, photographs, and other historical documents has given me a fascinating window into California’s past. I am immersed in materials that capture both broad historical trends and surprisingly familiar small, everyday moments from earlier eras. Through this hands-on engagement with history, I am not only discovering California’s story but also finding my own place within it, becoming part of the state’s ongoing narrative as I settle into life here.
Anya Nazarova
Staff Summer 2023 - Present
Anya joined CHC as part-time student staff in 2023. She initially joined to continue the digitization work started by previous student intern Kevin Candra. She completed a full inventory review of the audio/video tapes in the CHC collection and worked with interns and volunteers to digitize, transcribe, summarize, and catalog as many tapes as possible. Anya maintains the CHC website, assisting with regular updates and the creation of webpages to present materials and stories preserved and generated at the Center. Anya has a background in graphic arts and website design/development, is currently studying GIS and data science, and works for the Los Altos Hills County Fire District fuel reduction and outreach teams.
Margaret Butcher
Volunteer
I became aware of The California History Center when my mother was one of the Trustees of the CHC Foundation. She was the inspiration for The Audrey Edna Butcher Civil Liberties Education Initiative at The California History Center; she reminded De Anza students that there should never again be anything like the Internment of Japanese Americans. In 2014, I was able to begi
n consulting with Tom Izu and Lisa Christiansen to make that Education Initiative come to life. In 2023, I heard that many years’ worth of donated books were coming back to the CHC, and so I began helping with the sorting and preparation of the books for cataloging, to make them part of the Stocklmeir Library. It is a real pleasure to work with the Director, Lori Clinchard, the Foundation Board, the staff, the scholars, the interns and the volunteers, in order to be a part of sustaining this historical treasure.
Edwin El-Kareh
Volunteer Fall 2023 - Present
Edwin is committed to preserving history through the digitization of archival collections and the preparation of selected materials for the California History Center website.
Trained as an electrical engineer, he built a career in manufacturing and industrial processes before expanding into education. Today, he tutors STEM subjects and presentation graphics, combining technical expertise with clear, engaging instruction.
A lifelong volunteer, Edwin has devoted decades to libraries, museums, and community organizations. He is active at the 129-year-old South Bay Yacht Club and the century-old Coyote Grange, where he enjoys connecting people and strengthening community ties.
An active Scouter, Edwin volunteers with Sea Scout Ship 300 in Alviso and Post 747 Aviation Career Explorers at Reid-Hillview Airport. His interests include mid-century modern music and design, representational art, and recreational mathematics.
Passionate about collaboration and lifelong learning, Edwin advocates for win-win solutions, community colleges, and the transformative potential of online education.
Clara Christensen
Student Intern Fall 2026
Clara is assisting Saroj with processing books in the Lisa Christiansen Research Library, applying labels, and sorting books by call number.
Ashley Sanchez
Student Intern Fall 2025 - Spring 2026
Ashley Sanchez is a returning De Anza student with the goal of transferring and completing her baccalaureate in Sociology at U.C.S.C.
Ashley began as a creative artist–learning how to cultivate language as a means of determining the past and one’s place in it. She also studied under famed sociologist and social activist, Scott-Myers-Lipton, on how to use strategies from the past to implement current grassroots campaigns she’s led and assisted in strengthening.
Now, an exhibit assistant at the California History Center, she’s continuing her self-education of how to transform information from the roots of local history and converge it with the contemporary into a visual representation of our collective past and present with nuance and emotional resonance.
Aishani Shah
Student Intern Spring 2026
Aishani is inventorying the images in the Californian magazine. The magazine contains historical articles and images on a variety of topics. An inventory will help students, researchers, and curious readers find information and imagery.