The American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) has been instrumental in my personal, political and intellectual development as a Chicano/Latino faculty member in higher education. While a doctoral student at Harvard in 2004, I was selected as one of the first AAHHE Graduate Student Fellows, beginning my experience and relationship with this organization. Through the years, AAHHE has provided me with a much needed space for reflection, community building, professional development, recognition and access to Latina/o mentors as I navigated the often challenging environment of higher education.

Upon the completion of my doctorate in 2005, I moved to Florida and became a tenure-track faculty member at Florida International University. I immediately continued my community-based research and published extensively, including my first book. For personal and family reasons, I accepted a tenure-track position back at my alma mater, California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB), in 2008.

At CSUSB, I continued to engage in community-based scholarship, built rich networks at the university and within the community, and continued to publish and engage in the field of education. In 2011, AAHHE once again honored me as an AAHHE Faculty Fellow, and once again, the fellow experience within AAHHE provided the space and support I needed at that point in my career. AAHHE mentors like Dr. Luis Urrieta and Dr. Kenny Gonzalez shared their experiences, legitimized my struggles and provided the advice I needed to persist.

Soon after my Faculty Fellow experience, I was invited to serve as co-chair of the Faculty Fellows program with Dr. Leticia Oseguera. This formative experience shifted my role from a recipient of what AAHHE had to offer to someone responsible for designing the experience for an interdisciplinary group of Latina/o faculty. Serving as a co-chair also gave me the opportunity to learn from senior AAHHE leadership such as Dr. Loui Olivas.

After earning tenure in 2012, I was appointed as the co-director of the doctoral program in educational leadership at CSUSB. This experience provided additional insight into the role that leadership can play in developing programs and shaping the next generation of leadership across the educational pipeline. It was during this time period that I published two more books, and in 2015, I was awarded AAHHE’s Outstanding Hispanic Faculty of the Year.

I have continued to mentor Faculty Fellows and engage in various ways with AAHHE. After my appointment as a tenured associate professor at the University of California, Riverside in 2016, I was named the associate dean of the undergraduate education program. While my immediate professional goal is to become a full professor, I think it is vital to not only use my scholarship to create implications for leadership and policy impacting our communities, but to lead and contribute to developing the next generation of talent. AAHHE has provided us with a model that intentionally creates spaces that affirm, support and develop Latina/o scholars in higher education, not only for individual career advancement, but for the collective advancement of the Latina/o community and society.  •