About Alejandro

Alejandro (he/him/his) is a first generation graduate student from San Diego, CA. He identifies as Chicano/Latino and is the son of immigrants from Jalisco, Mexico. He is the youngest of five siblings. Alejandro began his higher education career at Cal State San Marcos in the fall of 2012. In his second semester at CSUSM, Alejandro was placed on academic probation. Due to familial events that occurred during his two first years at CSUSM, his academic performance was not what he wanted it to be. Alejandro was able to get the help he needed through the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP).
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​He successfully completed his B.A. in Liberal Arts and Sciences in the spring of 2017, graduating summa cum laude.

B.A. Liberal Arts and Sciences, minor in Spanish

At Cal State San Marcos, Alejandro was involved in various programs and student organizations that assisted his success in graduation. Some of these include being a member of the first Latino based fraternity established at CSUSM; working as an assistant researcher with the National Latino Research Center at CSUSM; working with a faculty member in the Linguistics department and traveling to El Quiche, Nebaj to perform research in bilingual education; serving as a peer mentor to second year Latino males through EOP's FUERza mentorship program; and working as a Migrant Education Advocate with the San Diego County Office of Education.

During his presidency of his fraternity, Nu Alpha Kappa, Inc., Alejandro was able to establish a mentorship program through his fraternity and the high school that he graduated from in hopes to increase the number of Latino males that not only graduate from high school but go on to college and beyond. 

Graduate Work

Currently, Alejandro is pursuing an M.A. in Postsecondary Educational Leadership with a concentration in Student Affairs, from San Diego State University. He was recently named an honorary Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholar this past Spring of 2020.​​​ Alejandro will be graduating in May of 2021.

Alejandro wants to develop a sound perspective of the policies and practices influencing student success in higher education, particularly those impacting community college students. He currently works as an Assessment Specialist at Palomar Community College and is getting hands on experience in policy work. He hopes to continue his work in a Ph.D. program with a focus in higher education and policy. 

Research Interests:

​masculinities in college; policy creation and implementation in community college; men of color in the community college; transfer student experience; re-entry of adult/parent learners; and student identity development