Meet our Team!
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Dave Gordon
Associate Director for Transfer Partnerships
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My name is David (Dave) Gordon and I’m excited to be joining STARRS as the Associate Director of Transfer Partnerships. I am a proud recent alumnus of UCSC, having just completed my PhD in Psychology. During my doctoral program, I primarily focused on research concerning empowerment and critical consciousness development for youth of color. I’m very excited about being a part of creating equity-supporting systems and structures that better serve underrepresented students, and I’m glad to be able to collaborate in doing that here at STARRS. Before returning to study here at UCSC, I worked as a social worker, primarily with current and former foster youth. I am Bay Area-born and raised, but completed my undergraduate and master’s degrees in Cleveland, OH, at Case Western Reserve University. In my free time, I enjoy classic and contemporary movies, listening to live music, sports, and spending time with my two sons. |
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Francia Cruz Silva
CE Program Coordinator | fcruzsil@ucsc.edu
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Francia Cruz Silva is an undocu-queer womxn of color who was born in Toluca Mexico and raised in Zitacuaro, Michoacan. Francia and her family immigrated to the United States in 2004, when she was eight years old. She currently resides in San Jose, CA but is proudly from south-east LA. After graduating from Bell high school, she began her educational journey at East Los Angeles College, where she says she began to uplift and amplify the voices of the community she was representing. In 2018, Francia graduated from ELAC with her Associate's Degree in Sociology and transferred to UCSC, where she graduated with her B.A. in Sociology at the end of Spring 2020. During her time at UCSC Francia became a student leader at the Services for Transfer and Re-entry Students program where she is still currently serving transfer students in her current role, as the Cultivamos Excelencia Program Coordinator. She is committed to supporting and creating a safe environment for all students. She strongly believes in not just opening up doors for students, but also holding it wide open so that when they are ready they'll access the resources available to them. |
