MAITE VILLAREAL RODRIGUEZ

Maite has been working with students for 20 years in various educational contexts – including community colleges, the CSUs, and flagship state universities - and now at the Keck School of Medicine and USC! The last eight years of her career have been devoted to Medical Education, first as the Health and Science Careers Advisor and Post-Bacc Coordinator at Cal State LA, and most recently AltaMed Health Services as the Manager for the Family Medicine Residency Program. She is also serves as a Faculty Lecturer at Cal State LA, teaching Intro to Health Careers and Intro to Higher Ed. She is a certified Multi-Cultural Dialogue Facilitator and loves to gather people across differences to find connection and meaning together.

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The through-line of her work has been looking out for students who may have been overlooked – with a conviction that what our world needs is the brilliance of those who too often are counted out. She is forever a student of her students – it is her joy to journey with them.

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As for her own educational background, she received her Masters in Higher Education with a concentration in Diversity and Social Justice from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Go Blue!) and her Bachelor's in Political Science from Pomona College.

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A few of her favorite things include her beautiful, hilarious mini-philosopher daughters Anaya and Soraya, her husband/in house comedian/workout partner Steven, reading historical fiction (3-4 per month!), and wandering the aisles of Target when she is stressed out. Visiting her homeland of Puerto Rico to see all the family, and eat all the food, is her annual delight.