Keynote Speaker

Frances Contreras Ph.D.

UC San Diego

Dr. Frances Contreras is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and an Associate Professor in the Department of Education Studies at UC San Diego. Her research focuses on issues of equity and access for underrepresented students in the education pipeline and the role of public policy in ensuring student equity across a P-20 continuum. Her work has been published in leading education journals and presses, including Harvard Educational Review, Educational Policy, Journal of Hispanics in Higher Education, Harvard University Press, and Teachers College Press. Her authored books include: Achieving Equity for Latino Students, Expanding the Pathway to Higher Education through Public Policy and The Latino Education Crisis and Latinx Firsts: Creating Infrastructures for Latinx First Generation Students to Thrive in Universities Today. She was honored as an “Emerging Scholar” and the “Top 25 to Watch” among academicians by Diverse Magazine; was the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs; and was a Dean’s Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Harvard University.

Frances has served on the Boards of the ACLU of Washington, Harvard Journal for Hispanic Policy, the Journal of Advanced Academics, The Preuss School and Latino Education Achievement Project, and was a Gubernatorial Appointee to the Achievement Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee in Washington. She currently serves on the PUENTE Board, the Board of The Lupe Contreras Scholarship Fund in California and the WestEd Board of Directors. Dr. Contreras earned her Bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley, Master’s degree from Harvard University and Ph.D. in Administration and Education Policy from Stanford University.

Plenary Speaker

Joseph Morales, Ph.D.

Office of Inclusive Excellence

Joseph Morales, Ph.D. is Assistant Director, Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships in the Office of Inclusive Excellence at University of California, Irvine. In this role, he draws on his own experience as a first generation and low income student. Among his duties, he is responsible for monitoring and advancing student success, deepening and expanding UCI’s relationships with other Minority Serving Institutions, and advocating for inclusive excellence locally, regionally and nationally. Among the campus’ recent milestones, UCI is the only member of the prestigious Association of American Universities to hold dual designation as both a Hispanic-Serving Institution and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution.