Staff

Catherine has worked in higher education for over 30 years and has dedicated her career to helping achieve educational equity for underrepresented students. She holds a B.A. in Child Development from CSULA and an M.A. in Educational Leadership from Fielding Graduate University. She began her career as a student, working as a college advisor for CSULA’s Talent Search Program. In 1991 she was hired as a counselor at Cal State Fullerton where she assisted in the establishment of their new Talent Search Program. In 1995, she began working at UC Riverside as an Assistant Director...

I have been working with outreach at the University of California, Berkeley for the past 20 years as a part of EAOP, SUP and DCAC. Although I have worked with schools throughout California, my main focus has been on K-12 schools in the Bay Area, with a specific emphasis on ESHUSD and SJUSD. I am presently the primary writer and visionary for UC Berkeley’s aspirational and college knowledge materials and curriculum for both K-12 students and their families as well as having forged a robust partnership with San Jose Unified. I am instrumental in the organization and implementation of...

Dennise moved to the United States when she was 12 years old and is the daughter of Mexican farmworkers. Her work in college access is rooted in her personal experience navigating education as an English-Learner and a first-generation undocumented Latina. Prior to joining DCAC, Dennise worked in the Office of Admissions at UC Merced and managed a college access program for immigrant and refugee youth in Nashville, Tennessee. She also served as the Associate Director of the Migrant Education Program in Tennessee, where she led a statewide effort to improve the educational outcomes of...