Faculty & Staff Directory

Began at CAIS 2022

A San Francisco native, Mr. Rosen studied Film at Bard College before moving to New York City to pursue animation and music. For the past 7 years he has been living in Los Angeles, working as an artist, musician, and arts educator. In 2022 he completed his Masters in Teaching at Pepperdine University, and is thrilled to return to his favorite city in the world to join the CAIS community as a studio art teacher. In his free time he is a contributing cartoonist for the New Yorker, plays basketball, and enjoys camping with friends.

Began at CAIS 2025

A proud San Franciscan, Sophia Rutkin has built her career on serving the youth of this great city. She received a Bachelors of Arts in History at Vassar College, and a Masters in Business Administration at the University of San Francisco. Through her work with Playworks, Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco, and the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, she has had the opportunity to develop and lead transformative summer and after school programs. Ms. Rutkin is eager to join the CAIS community, and help realize the vision of summer programming in the new campus. Additionally, as an Alice Fong Yu Alternative School alumna, she is excited to rejoin a Chinese immersion school environment, and brush up on her Mandarin.  Her spare time is now almost entirely dedicated to her 7 month old son Jeremiah, and she also loves to read, play sports, and bake.

Began at CAIS 2023

Lower School Science Teacher Emily Sheppard graduated from the BATTI program. With several years of classroom teaching experience and designing and implementing Outdoor Education curriculum, she integrates the two as she supports second-fifth graders in developing their scientific mindsets.

BEGAN AT CAIS 2006

Shyu Laoshi was born and raised in Taiwan. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in Early Childhood Education. This year will be her 16th year of teaching! She joined the CAIS community in 2006 and has been teaching Preschool to Third Grade at CAIS during the past few years. She is looking forward to teaching First Grade again this year.

Began at CAIS 2025

BEGAN AT CAIS 2017

An Laoshi was born in Taipei, Taiwan to a native English speaking American father and a native Mandarin speaking Taiwanese mother. She spent the majority of her formative educational years attending international school in Hong Kong where she continued to study the Mandarin language. She has a Master of Arts in Teaching a Foreign Language from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and is starting her fifth year at CAIS (all of which have been in Kindergarten!). An Laoshi loves being active outdoors, enjoying delicious food at restaurants all over the Bay Area, and admiring cute dogs!

BEGAN AT CAIS 2022

Ms. Solomon is a Bay Area Teacher Training Institute (BATTI) with an MA in Teaching and a California Teaching Credential. She completed her undergraduate at UC Santa Barbara, where she earned her BA in Psychology with a double minor in English and Applied Psychology. Prior to teaching, Olivia was a behavior analyst supporting young children with Autism in developing social, communication, and life skills. Olivia is an educator who is passionate about teaching young learners qualities they will need to be successful students and friends, such as perseverance, independence, perspective-taking, critical thinking, and social-emotional skills. Outside the classroom, Olivia enjoys hiking, baking, and looking for vintage treasures at estate sales.

BEGAN AT CAIS 2021

Song Laoshi was born and raised in Inner Mongolia, China. For the past ten years, she has focused her professional life on educating others in the field of Elementary Education (including Early Childhood Education). She holds a degree in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, and just completed her master’s degree. She and her husband have a one-year-old King Charles Cavalier. Her parents live in China and she visits them as often as she can.

BEGAN AT CAIS 2013

Su Laoshi is a leader not only in her classroom, but in the Lower School community as well. Having successfully completed the Leadership 101 training program, she has taken on leadership roles in summer programs and with our fifth grade outbound International Program to Taiwan. She is known for her warmth, her relationship-building skills, and her caring classroom. Su Laoshi believes in teaching her students to exemplify the values we cultivate at CAIS.

BEGAN AT CAIS 2011

Born and raised in Beijing and a graduate from Teacher-training colleges in Beijing, Sui Laoshi also earned both her bachelor’s degree in Asian American Studies and her Master’s degree in Chinese at San Francisco State University. After teaching in China since 1988, Sui Laoshi began teaching in San Francisco in 2004 and joined the CAIS team in 2011. Sui Laoshi is as passionate about teaching as she is about modeling being a lifelong learner. She is known among our team as an innovator when it comes to student-centered learning.