‘UC San Diego is Where My World Opened Up’

UC San Diego is where my world opened up.

I grew up in Compton, outside of Los Angeles, and attended UC San Diego for college; I was in Earl Warren College and lived on campus. At a school like UC San Diego, you meet people from different places and you learn so much from each other. My dormmates and I had many late-night conversations and debates about all kinds of things; that was part of the learning experience.

My experience at UC San Diego truly shaped me into the person I am today. It sparked my commitment to becoming a volunteer and a politically active person. It also increased my understanding of the world around me and what it meant for me to be in it as a Black woman. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to study here.

Starting a Life in San Diego

It was never my intention to stay in San Diego.

I always thought that when I graduated, I would go back to Los Angeles. But San Diego is very difficult to leave, and after graduation, I got a job on campus and never left.

That was 35 years ago.

I have had so many positions on campus in different areas and all of them have taught me something.

Two of my mentors—Mae Brown, the former assistant vice chancellor of admissions and enrollment services, and Catherine Joseph, the former dean of academic advising—encouraged me to become more involved in volunteering on campus. They founded the UJIMA Network, an alliance of Black UC San Diego staff, faculty, students, alumni and community, and the Black History Month planning group, both of which I help facilitate and became meaningful spaces for community and connection.

Why Heritage Months Matter

Heritage months like Black History Month tie so deeply into the student experience.

University is often the first place you are exposed to cultures, languages, people and ideas beyond what you grew up with. For example, as a student at UC San Diego, I was taught by Nobel laureates that I didn't have at my little high school in Long Beach and I may not have appropriately appreciated it at the time. Learning how to think critically from extraordinarily smart people is life changing

At their core, heritage months are about education and community building. They build a network and an understanding that we all contribute to the world we live in today and the history that will be told in the future.

Heritage months create meaningful connections that might not happen otherwise. They break people out of their silos and comfort zones to learn and experience something new, whether that’s food, music, a performance or an exhibit.

That's what higher education is about: broadening perspectives and deepening understanding.

Coming Full Circle

I am so fortunate that my career has come full circle.

As UC San Diego’s Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Education, I manage the eight colleges and oversee the Academic Integrity and Students with Disabilities offices, as well as the Triton Testing Center, Summer Session and summer programs.

In my role, I give back to my foundation: the undergraduate colleges. In addition to managing them, I help advocate and strategize. I impact students, where, as a student, I benefited from the work and effort of administrators like myself.

Every day, I think about and lean on my UC San Diego education. I'm really grateful that I've had such a diverse career at UC San Diego and ended up in a position that supports my passion: undergraduate education.

The campus has changed dramatically since I was a student. I still walk paths I walked as a student, and because of the university’s growth, they look very, very different. Some I don't even recognize. For instance, when I was a student at Warren, I would walk through a eucalyptus grove that now goes by the Faculty Club, but at that time, it was just a dirt path through the trees.

One of the people who has influenced me the most throughout my time at UC San Diego is Bennetta Jules-Rosette, a distinguished professor of sociology at UC San Diego who spent five decades here. She was a trailblazer. She taught me to persist in what I care about and to see my very presence as an act of activism.

I lean on her spirit every day, and am so grateful for what my time at UC San Diego has given me.