Assistant Director of Colleges Advising, Oakes & Rachel Carson Colleges, Danny Rodriguez

My role:

The Assistant Director of Colleges Advising is responsible for providing leadership and direction for academic advising at the college, for supervision and development of college advisors, and for supporting the college and the provost. They develop and implement an advising curriculum that supports the Undergraduate Academic Advising Mission. Lastly, the Assistant Director of Colleges Advising collaborates with others critical to student success to advocate for and/or develop programs, procedures, or resources that benefit students in more than one college. There is an Assistant Director of Colleges Advising for each college pair.

About Me:

To put it simply, education has made all the difference in my life. It is where I have watched and participated in building the impossible. Authentic care for our students, their well-being, and their sense of self as people who can make a difference are all part of my personal advising philosophy. As a young, low-income first-generation Latinx in education, I have been fortunate to be a part of profoundly transformative experiences for other low income, first-generation college students of color. I have been honored with the opportunity to hear the voices of the most marginalized and in the process they offered me counter stories to what it means to be ‘successful’ in college. They chose time and time again to want to give back to their communities and this is a drive that is central to my own humanity and work at Oakes College. I am often reminded that access to higher education was gained through a long and historical legacy of resistance, where resistance represented a courageous obligation by those who have and continue to be oppressed to fight against their subordination. As we construct the path for justice and equity, we must remember, “love is an act of will – namely, [it is] both an intention and an action. Will...implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose love”[*] and it requires that we choose every time to want to make the difference. My drive to create change stems from the fact that getting an education was never just about me; this accomplishment is for all those who continue to stay committed to the struggle to enact the change we need to see in this world.

[*]Quote from bell hooks, All About Love (2001).

Hometown:

Koreatown, Los Angeles, California 🇸🇻

Education:

• MA, Organization and Leadership w/ concentration in Higher Education & Student Affairs, University of San Francisco 14'
• BA, Sociology and Latin American & Latino Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz 11'

Favorite Quote:

“The questions which one asks oneself begin, at last, to illuminate the world, and becomes one's key to the experience of others.” - James Baldwin