Aron Ramirez was preparing dinner at his home on the East Coast when a call from an 805 number appeared on his cell phone.
Ramirez abandoned his food to answer the phone, eager to hear what the caller had to say.
Excitement overcame Ramirez as he ended the call; Cal Poly had just accepted him into its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Cluster Hire for the College of Liberal Arts (CLA).
Including Ramirez, Cal Poly hired six faculty to promote diversity and inclusion within the liberal arts college. The new faculty members bring expertise in immigration and migration in Latinx populations to their respective departments.
“The focus on Latinx/e communities as a part of the positions was meant to align with the university’s goal of becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution,” wrote Jennifer Teramoto Pedrotti, associate vice president for DEI Academic Initiatives, in an email.
Teramoto Pedrotti previously served as the associate dean for diversity and curriculum for CLA, authored the latest CLA Diversity Action Plan and assisted in the hiring of this year’s DEI cohort for the college. She currently works for the Office of University Diversity and Inclusion (OUDI) at Cal Poly.
This year’s DEI Cluster Hire marks the college’s fourth cohort. Each faculty member is on track for tenure, beginning as an assistant professor.
Aron Ramirez
Aron Ramirez, a first-time professor, expects a lot from not only himself but also his students. He relates this level of expectation among his students as a form of trust.
“What I want is for them to, for whatever reason, be able to relate to me whether it’s because of our background or because we have some similar experiences, and use that as a way to now trust me,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez, who grew up in Downey, California, received his undergraduate degree in history from Stanford University. It was there that historian Albert Camarillo offered Ramirez the support and mentorship he needed to pursue his doctorate degree at Yale.
After completing his doctorate degree within five years, Ramirez returned to California.
“As soon as [Cal Poly] gave me the offer there was no question for me, even if I had other offers it wouldn’t have been a question,” Ramirez said.
According to Rameriez, the success of the last three DEI Cluster Hire cohorts inspired him to join the college and its initiative toward diversity and inclusion.
“We’re not the guinea pigs,” Ramirez said. “We’re coming into this institution building on the work that the three previous cluster hires have done.”
Ivan Hernandez
Ivan Hernandez received his undergraduate degree in psychology from Cal State San Marcos, about an hour away from his hometown in Lake Elsinore, California. After completing his doctorate degree from Northwestern University, Hernandez worked at San Jose State before joining Cal Poly.
As a first-generation student from a Mexican immigrant family, Hernandez wanted to return to the Cal State system after experiencing firsthand support during his time at San Marcos.
There have been several mentors in Hernandez’s collegiate life that have shaped where he is now, and he sees the cluster hire as a way to give back.
“I feel grateful that we now get to play that role for others, and I think that’s one of the reasons why this cluster hire and being a part of circles like this is really awesome,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez described DEI hiring as the need for “pre-representation” in the faculty population at Cal Poly in order for the university to be more appealing to a diverse prospective student body.
“[Students] can look at our faculty website, look at our last names, see that we’re here and want to come,” Hernandez said.
According to Hernandez, many Cal State institutions are Hispanic-serving often due to their geographic location. As compared to Cal Poly, Hernandez believes the San Luis Obispo area impacts diversity within the university.
“While there is certainly a lively and sizable ‘Hispanic’ population around Cal Poly, there are many reasons why, geographically, [diversifying Cal Poly] has presented certain obstacles or limitations,” Hernandez said.
Sergio Fernando Juárez
Sergio Fernando Juárez grew up in the counties of Santa Barbara and Ventura, California. After attending Santa Barbara City College, he committed to Cal State Channel Islands, where he received a bachelor’s degree in communications.
Fernando Juárez continued his education at the University of Denver, working towards completing his doctorate degree.
During his doctoral program, Fernando Juárez moved back to southern California to begin lecturing at various universities such as Cal State Northridge and Cal Lutheran.
Fernando Juárez had previously worked for Cal State Fresno on the tenure track after receiving his doctorate degree, though after two years of teaching online during the COVID-19 pandemic, he moved to Loyola Marymount University.
The opportunity to provide work within the social justice and communications at Cal Poly drew him to the position.
“I’m trying to create change in how we teach public speaking,” Fernando Juárez said.
According to Fernando Juárez, the groundwork that Cal Poly has done to reach closer to becoming an HSI was alluring for him when accepting the position.
“Leadership [at Cal Poly] wants to better understand how to serve students, and in serving the Latino population it’s actually serving all populations,” Fernando Juárez said.
Fernando Juárez wants to understand the “lay of the land” at Cal Poly in order to support students and establish more programming geared towards how faculty can better serve Latinx students.
Melissa Manzanares
Melissa Manzanares is from Los Angeles, California. She teaches within the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies in the Liberal Arts at Cal Poly.
As an undergraduate at Whittier, she was involved in a pipeline program that supported underrepresented students like herself. This program helped Manzanares to achieve her goal of becoming a professor.
She currently teaches an Intro to Disciplinary Studies class at Cal Poly and will teach a Global Migration course in the winter. Manzanares hopes to implement more courses centered around Latinx communities, as well as classes on agricultural and environmental issues.
For Manzanares, the DEI Cluster Hire offers her a strong sense of community.
“It’s only been a few weeks, but to already have friends here at Cal Poly, I think that’s really sort of irreplaceable,” Manzanares said.
As a sociologist, Manzanares utilizes her skills within this discipline and understands the impact she and her colleagues within the DEI Cluster Hire have on campus.
“The cluster hire ensured that we had other folks who might have similar life experiences as us,” Manzanares said. “They’ve also had excellent academic training, but specifically in ways that complement what we each do.”
Jared Van Ramshorst
Jared Van Ramshorst grew up in Placentia, California, studying history at Cal State Fullerton during his undergraduate degree. He completed his doctorate degree in geography at Syracuse University.
Before coming to Cal Poly, Van Ramshorst taught tenure track at Kean University but dreamt of returning to California to be closer to home and engage with residing communities, specifically those of Latinx descent.
Working across multiple disciplines including Latinx and global studies, Van Ramshorst landed within the political science department at CLA.
“I was really yearning for a home and a kind of department where I would feel close to colleagues,” Van Ramshorst said. “It was a really kind of appealing position, and I think the added advantage of course was being part of this cluster hire.”
Growing up with a family from immigrant backgrounds, Van Ramshorst wanted to focus on the politics around immigration post-graduate school, looking into the journey of immigrants and working in migrant shelters in Mexico.
In the winter, he will teach a course, Criminalizing Immigrants, focusing on Latinx immigrants and the ways in which they have been subjected to racialization and criminalization.
“I think it’s kind of essential for the Cal State system as a whole to represent Latinx student’s interests and to create opportunities for Latinx students,” Van Ramshorst said.
In relation to Cal Poly as an emerging HSI, Van Ramshorst said he is skeptical of this benchmark, and what it means to “serve” Hispanic students for Cal Poly upon receiving this status.
“There’s a large number of Latinx students [on campus], but there’s really not much visibility in terms of what their experiences are like,” Van Ramshorst said.
Daniel Rodriguez Ramirez
Daniel Rodriguez Ramirez completed their undergraduate degree in Peru and later received their doctorate degree in social psychology from UC Santa Cruz.
Along with the majority of the DEI Cluster Hire, Rodriguez Ramirez joined Cal Poly’s campus this fall. He teaches and conducts research for the psychology department.
Rodriguez Ramirez admires teaching “some of the brightest students in the CSU system.” When deciding to join Cal Poly, he was intrigued by the initiatives presented within CLA and diversity.
“I had multiple tenure-track faculty offers, but Cal Poly’s reputation and learn-by-doing philosophy spoke to me, and I was impressed by the authentic, supportive faculty and their DEI work,” Rodriguez Ramirez wrote in an email to Mustang News.
When asked about Cal Poly’s emerging HSI status, Rodriguez Ramirez was pleased that the university would be joining several other CSU and UC schools within this benchmark.
“When more Latinx students access advanced degrees, they enrich California’s workforce and civic life,” Rodriguez Ramirez wrote.
According to Rodriguez Ramirez, diversifying students and faculty is just one step in the process.
“Increasing diversity must go hand in hand with building more equitable practices and policy changes that truly promote student success,” Rodriguez Ramirez wrote.
Hiring Process
The departments within each college at the university elect hiring subcommittees that lead faculty searches, including ones for DEI cluster hires, according to Julie Bettergarcia, associate dean for CLA diversity and curriculum. The entire tenure track faculty of the hiring department takes part in the search process.
For this DEI Cluster Hire, CLA department faculty reviewed and approved a list of potential candidates for initial phone interviews. Once evaluated over the phone, a subset of these candidates were invited to an in-person interview, and later a candidate was chosen for the cluster hire position. This process is the same for all faculty searches at Cal Poly.
The DEI Cluster Hire faculty are on the tenure track, beginning with the assistant professor role for the college. Faculty eventually become eligible for an associate position and later secure a full professor title.
According to Bettergarcia, the progression period of a tenure-track professor varies, but typically assistant and associate professors hold their positions for about five years each, following an indefinite full-time position.
Next Steps
The CLA is currently conducting its fifth DEI Cluster Hire search. According to Bettergarcia, the college is searching for four faculty: two with expertise in HSI work, and two with expertise in Black Student Success work.
This cluster hire cycle is part of the second university-wide cluster hire, with a total of 11 open positions.
“We have a lot of work to do, but I’m not afraid of the work,” Ramirez said.
