May 28, 2020
Christina Jimenez
cjimenez@@cccco.edu
T 916.322.4004
Sacramento, Calif. – California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley has announced that Siria S. Martinez, Ph.D., has been named Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Equity and Success.
Martinez, who has dedicated her career to eliminating educational inequality, will lead the Institutional Effectiveness Partnership Initiative (IEPI) in deploying professional development and technical assistance aimed at advancing equity and success strategies. She comes to the Chancellor’s Office from Woodland Community College, where she served as Dean of Student Success & Institutional Effectiveness and Interim Dean of Student Services and where she co-led an 11-person interdisciplinary Student Success Committee overseeing the development of a three-year Student Equity Plan.
A Los Angeles native raised in Compton who was the first in her family to attend college, Martinez began her higher education career at the University of Southern California where she served as assistant director in the Office of Admissions and Associate Director of Academic Affairs in the Computer Science Department. She was recruited in 2007 to work for UC Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering as its Graduate Student Affairs Manager, then worked for nearly two years at Palomar College as its Title V/Hispanic Serving Institution Project Supervisor providing leadership in supporting the retention and academic success of Hispanic and low-income students at the San Marcos campus.
In 2011, Martinez returned to her alma mater, UC Davis, as Director of the Ronald E. McNair Scholars program guiding first-generation and low-income students to pursue doctorate degrees in their respective fields. While working with first-generation students, Martinez conducted research during her doctoral program that examined student experiences in community college developmental learning communities. She has been at Woodland Community College since October of 2015.
Martinez holds a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric and communication from UC Davis; a master of education, postsecondary administration and student affairs, from USC; and a Ph.D. in higher education from Claremont Graduate University.
The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation, composed of 73 districts and 115 colleges with 114 campuses serving 2.1 million students per year. California community colleges provide career education and workforce training; guaranteed transfer to four-year universities; degree and certificate pathways; and basic skills education in English and math. As the state’s engine for social and economic mobility, the California Community Colleges supports the Vision for Success, a strategic plan designed to improve student success outcomes, increase transfer rates and eliminate achievement gaps. For more information, please visit the California Community Colleges website or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
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