Christine Jaqueline Mata The University of Santa Cruz Human Resources 1156 High Street Santa Cruz, CA 95064 December 10, 2017 Dear Selection Committee, I am writing regarding the Assistant Dean of Students for Conduct & Community Standards position at the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC). I am attracted to this position where I know my experience in conflict resolution, facilitation, supervision, and social justice will all be essential for success in this role. This position also provides the opportunity to continue to work in the functional area of student conduct on a campus that is focused on environmental and social responsibility. My current position as Associate Dean of Students for Student Rights and Responsibilities at Humboldt State University affords me the opportunity to work with students, faculty and staff across campus. I oversee the student conduct process and serve as chair for the Student Behavioral Intervention Team in the absence of the Dean of Students. Additionally, I manage our Campus, Assistance, Response and Education (CARE) services and an Executive Assistant to Student Conduct. I adjudicate a variety of cases such as threatening behavior, academic plagiarism, classroom disruption and hazing. My role also includes triaging student disruption, consulting with faculty regarding student discipline, addressing mental health crises, crafting protocols focused on student protests and addressing student misconduct across campus. In the past year, I have developed and implemented a cohort model for formal hearing officers. I have also collaborated with colleagues in the Educational Opportunity Program to develop training focused on microaggressions and White fragility. This training has been adapted across campus and the surrounding local community. As the Assistant Dean of Students at the University of California Los Angeles, I focused on issues of campus climate. I had the opportunity to program around and address issues of diversity, inclusion, implicit bias, microaggressions and institutional discrimination. I managed all reports from our campus bias reporting system. My role was to meet with students to assess and facilitate a response on a case by case basis. This included an investigation and assessment of whether the incident rose to the level of a violation of the UCLA code of conduct. The area of free speech was an ongoing component of my role at UCLA. I also had the opportunity to mediate conflicts between students, faculty and students as well as staff and students. As the first point of contact for discrimination grievances, it was my role to attempt to mediate before a case progressed to the hearing process. My role also included serving as the hearing administrator, hearing board trainer and as respondent support services provider for students accused of sexual misconduct. Diversity and Social Justice are important components of my worldview, and my work in higher education has always encompassed these values. Over the course of my career, I have collaborated across campus with departments such as Residential Life, Greek Life, Student Conduct, Counseling and Psychological Services, as well as numerous academic departments to address issues of misconduct and campus climate. My work with the Title IX case management team at UCLA has allowed my social justice work to focus on issues of sexual assault and gender discrimination. Furthermore, my work at UCLA evolved from managing our CARE
advocates for complainants in sexual misconduct cases into establishing respondent support services for accused students. As the Student Conduct Administrator at Humboldt State University, I was able to assist students in crisis, advised the Women s Resource Center and worked with departments across the campus community to address behavioral issues and adjudicate high-level cases. Additionally, I spearheaded the LGBT Safe Zone Training for the campus community, and facilitated several training sessions for Residential Life. As you read through my resume, I am confident you will find that I have all of the skills and experiences required for this position. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to discussing the position and my qualifications with you in more detail soon. Sincerely, Christine Mata
Christine Jaqueline Mata Education Ph.D., Higher Education and Organizational Change Expected 2018 University of California Los Angeles, M.A., Higher Education and Organizational Change 2014 University of California Los Angeles M.A., Student Affairs Administration 2007 Michigan State University, School of Education B.A., History, College of the Humanities. 2003 University of California, Irvine B.A., Chicano and Latino Studies 2003 University of California, Irvine, College of Social Sciences Professional Experience Humboldt State University, Office of the Dean of Students Arcata, California Associate Dean of Students 8/2016- Present Coordinate the University's student conduct procedures, including the adjudication of Student Code of Conduct violations. Assists in and provides crisis intervention for student and university-wide crisis management including protests, threats, illness, dangerous behavior and the like. Serves on the Student Intervention Behavior Team (SBIT), a sub-group of the Campus Assessment Team, to determine threat to the safety and welfare of the campus community by students and non-campus community members. Serves as Chair of the SBIT in the absence of the Dean of Students. Provides consultation to faculty and staff regarding student disciplinary issues. Oversees the university's student clubs/organizations conduct process, provides mandated anti-hazing training and other trainings to the larger campus community regarding response to Students of Concern. Supervises the student Campus Assistance, Response and Education (CARE) Services coordinator ensuring appropriate student assistance and advocacy within university and system guidelines, procedures and policies. Works closely with the university Department of Housing and Residential Life in administering the university-wide student conduct process for students living in the residence halls who are alleged to have violated the Student Code of Conduct, including system and university policies and guidelines. Supervise a professional Executive Student Conduct Assistant that manages the Maxient database and provides overall administrative support and low-level crisis assessment. Develops and implements preventative approaches on issues of campus climate. University of California Los Angeles, Office of the Dean of Students Los Angeles, California Assistant Dean of Students 5/2011-8/2016 Manage Respondent Support Services in cases of sexual misconduct. Develop and implement policies for providing students with information and resources on the student conduct process and Title IX investigations. Supervised 2 fulltime Campus Sexual Assault Advocates and 1 fulltime Consultation and Response Case Manager. Facilitate Student Conduct Committee Hearings and serve as Hearing Administrator. Mediate incidents of bias and provide conflict resolution to students, staff and faculty.
Provide departmental training on diverse learning environments and managing diverse populations to students, staff and faculty. Collaborate with other departments across campus to design and implement diversity initiatives. Spearheaded a team of 3 professionals to co-chair a committee in crafting a set of diversity initiatives and recommendations to the Chancellor on behalf of the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs. Assist UCLA s Intergroup Relations Program in expanding the program onto the broader campus. Founded the Diversity Collaborative Committee comprised of various functional areas in student and academic affairs to implement preventative education focused on biased incidents. Pioneered staff development sessions focused on creating and maintaining a healthy work environment, recognizing unhealthy racial dynamics and mental health. Facilitate workshops and training sessions on the meaning of biased incidents, bystander intervention and various diversity and social justice topics. Meet and assess the needs of students in crisis and referred to the appropriate campus resources. Established the Respondent Support Services Area to advise students accused of sexual misconduct on university policy, hearing process and refer to appropriate student services. Designed and implemented educational intervention and prevention focused on implicit bias and microaggressions in partnership with the UCLA School of Law, Arts and Architecture, Social Work, School of Dentistry and School of Education for students, staff and faculty. Oversaw the establishment of the Student Faculty Dinner Dialogue Program focused on discussion of issues of campus climate. Develop protocols for biased incident reporting and facilitate incident response facilitation. Taught Community Health Services 165 course on life skills. Humboldt State University, Office of the Vice President of Student Affairs Arcata, California Coordinator of Student Conduct, Rights and Responsibilities 6/2008-5/2011 Worked with the University Crisis Consultation Team, University Police, Residence Life and the Counseling and Psychological Services Center in responding to students with emotional disorders and/or threat assessment. Adjudicated high-level student conduct cases for a campus of 8,000 students including suspension, mental health crisis, drug, alcohol violations and physical assaults. Assessed and referred for alcohol and other drugs with the Alcohol and Other Drug Counselor. Collaborated with colleagues in the Counseling Center and Residence Life to construct and implement Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Ally and Safe Space training both on and off campus as well as train student organization leaders to participate as paraprofessional facilitators. Collaborated with the university administration and Sexual Assault Prevention Committee with evaluating and providing campus response to Sexual Assault incidents. Served on the Anti-biased Response Team work group to establish a campus anti-biased response group. Advised the Women s Resource Center in providing programming, outreach and budget guidance. Facilitated training on classroom management and student rights and responsibilities for students, staff and faculty. Led the design and implementation of Transgender Communities training. Participated in biweekly Student Conduct Norming group with housing, Residence Life, University Police and counseling staff. Facilitated student dialogues focused on Race and Ethnicity, Sexual Orientation, Gender, Religion, Disability and the intersections of identities for residential life staff. Coordinated the residence life and campus student conduct process in conjunction with the Residential Life Team. Responsible for creating and implementing a Student Conduct Process workshop for student orientation. Established the Office for Student Rights and Responsibilities in partnership with the Dean of Students. Created classroom management intervention sessions for faculty and teaching assistants. Spearheaded the establishment of the LGBT Safe Zone Training Program in partnership with Residential Life, and the Counseling and Psychological Services Center. Managed the Women s Resource Center staff and assisted in the development of programming focused on intersections of identity. Managed a budget of 100, 000 for the Women s Resource Center. Humboldt State University, Department of Housing and Dining Services Arcata, California
Residence Life Coordinator- Judicial Education 7/2007-6/2008 Adjudicated high level student conduct cases for 1,400 students including removals, alcohol and drug violations. Developed and administered educational assessments and sanctions. Managed and maintained judicial database for the residence life department. Prepared reports to comply with the federally mandated Clery Act. Practiced within all laws in association with Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) as well as California Tenant/Landlord law. Collaborated with the Office of the Vice President of Student Affairs on student conduct cases. Responded to parent concerns regarding the student judicial process or student conduct matters. Trained in level one Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS) protocol. Participated in on-call duty rotation and responded to emergencies and crisis situations. Spearheaded the training of 50 undergraduate student staff in housing protocol, social justice and the student judicial process. Supervised two full-fulltime Assistant Conduct Coordinators. Assisted with student staff training focused on social justice topics. Designed and implemented social justice training for 100 student staff. Revised and implemented polices focused on student conduct sanctioning process. In partnership with the Residence Life Coordinators, The Dean of Students and Associate Director of Residence Life, assesses and redesigned sanctions associated with cases focused on bias incidents, alcohol and substance abuse. THINK Together Non-profit Organization Santa Ana, California Site Coordinator 1/2004 7/2005 Managed site staff of 6 classroom supervisors and 11 volunteers under the direct supervision of the area manager. Interviewed, recommended hiring and evaluated classroom supervisors and other part-time team members. Managed a site budget of $29,000 including staffing, supplies and fundraising. Maintained comprehensive student and volunteer records and produced reports as required. Designed a site program schedule together with the THINK Together administrative team such that 300 students have access to snack time, homework help and a variety of recreational, educational and enrichment activities. Worked with collaborative partners such as Santa Ana Unified School District administrators and teachers to design and implement programs. Graduate Assistantships Lear Corporation Career Services Center, Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan Graduate Assistant 6/2006-5/2007 Facilitated weekly resume workshops and connected students with appropriate career resources. Planned and coordinated Interview Day with 150 employers and 1,000 students. Assisted with the coordination of MSU s largest job fair, which included 290 employers and approximately 5000 students. Advised undergraduate students on career goals and resume. Assisted in the planning for the orientation of 1400 first-year business students. Michigan State University Department of Residence Life East Lansing, Michigan Assistant Hall Director 8/2005 5/2006 Supervised 8 Mentors in their floor responsibilities through regular meetings, daily contact and performance evaluations. Responsible for staff training in areas of well-being, student learning, multicultural competencies, personal integrity and civic responsibility of a residence hall containing 1200 students. Conducted student judicial hearings and administered appropriate sanctions. Advised Mentors in the development, planning, and assessment of community programming. Guided student leaders in the development, planning, and assessment of community programming. Maintained formal and informal contact with student leaders to assist with leadership and personal
development through community programs, organization meetings and individual meetings. Maintained liaisons with resources and other units, including University Housing, Office of Racial Ethnic Student Affairs, Student Life, and other departments and community agencies. Michigan State University Office of Supportive Services East Lansing, Michigan Academic Advisor 1/2006-5/2006 Learned university requirements and advised undergraduate students accordingly. Shadowed Academic Specialists during student advising appointments. Worked with a caseload of 22 students. Academically advised low-income and first generation students. Learned the challenges underprivileged students face in higher education. Became familiar with advising techniques and theory. Monitored student progress and periodically met with assigned students. Committee Involvement Equity Alliance Cohort, Member, 2016- present The Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity (JCSCORE) Editorial Board, Member 2015-present Case Management Team, Member, 2015-2016 Student Organization Policy Committee, 2015-2016 University Religious Conference Board, Secretary 2014-2016 Undergraduate Student Association Council, Advisor, 2014-2016 Transgender Taskforce, Member, 2014-2016 Campus Climate Committee, Chair 2014-2016 Diversity Collaborative Committee, Chair, 2012-2014 UCLA Symposium on Diversity, Chair, 2012-2013