Staff Page

Gerardo Arellano (he/him/his)

Executive Director of HSI Initiatives and RRC Director

Gerardo N. Arellano received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and his BA from UC San Diego in the departments of comparative ethnic studies. Dr. Arellano is the inaugural director of the Raza Resource Centro at UC San Diego. His research interests include trans-border culture and migrations, de-colonial pedagogies, Latinx post-secondary educational achievement, and retention. He has extensive experience working with underserved students of color at the community, high school, and university levels. He loves to work with students and he enjoys advising graduate and undergraduate students, strategic planning, curriculum design, program development, and assessment. He is passionate about coaching students to obtain scholarships, internships, research, and conference experience.

Office: 858.246.1650

Email: gearellano@ucsd.edu
Claudia Martinez (she/her/hers)

Associate Director of the RRC and HSI Family Programs

Claudia Martinez was born and raised in Tijuana, México. She moved to the United States at the age of 14 with her parents and younger brother in 2001 just in time to enter high school. She graduated from the University of Redlands with a Bachelor’s degree in Race and Ethnic Studies and Spanish in 2009 and is finishing her Master’s Degree in Higher Education. She served as the First Generation Student Programs Coordinator at the University of Redlands from 2012-2014 and has been part of the RRC since July 2014.

Claudia Martinez nació y fue criada en Tijuana, Baja California, México. Ella, junto con sus padres y hermano menor, se mudo a los Estados Unidos a la edad de 14 años en el 2001 para poder ser admitida en la preparatoria. Claudia se graduó de la Universidad de Redlands con su Bachillerato en Race & Ethnic Studies y Español en el 2009 y esta terminando su maestria. Fue la Coordinadora de Programas para Estudiantes de Primera Generación del 2012-2014 en la Universidad de Redlands. Claudia a trabajado en el Raza Resource Centro desde el verano del 2014 como parte del personal inaugural en la posición de subdirectora.

Office: 858.246.1844
Email: claudiamartinez@ucsd.edu
Omar Padilla (he/him/his/él)

Associate Director of Academic Initiatives

Omar is originally from Santa Monica, California where he grew up in the Pico neighborhood. His family has migrated between Santa Monica and the region of Los Altos de Jalisco for three generations and Omar is first generation born in the U.S. Omar also identifies as a first-generation college student, having attended UC Santa Cruz for undergrad where he majored in Latin American/Latino Studies and Politics, and was involved in the ChALE peer-mentoring program and an RA for his residential college, and was involved in establishing a chapter of his Latino-based fraternity at UCSC.

Before UCSD, Omar worked at Santa Monica College with the Black Collegians and Adelante Programs while attending CSU Los Angeles for his master's in Mexican American/Chicanx studies. Omar arrived at UCSD in 2013 to pursue his Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies where his research focuses on “queer public memory.” Omar’s dissertation research focuses on the public responses to the deaths of Mexican singer Juan Gabriel, Mexican-born make-up artist Jacob Yebale, and the PULSE Nightclub shooting to produce a queer afterlife. Through his dissertation research, Omar is interested in seeing how public forms of mourning and remembering empowers LGBTQIA-identified people to narrate possibilities of queer life.

At UCSD Omar has worked with undergraduate students as STARS Advocate, SPACES Grad Mentor, and Instructor in DOC Writing Program and Ethnic Studies Department. He is passionate about helping graduate students create a sense of community at UCSD and has worked to do that through his roles at Grad Division and Engaged Teaching Hub.

Omar is very excited to come into the role of Associate Director for Academic Initiatives and continue to work in collaboration with the RRC team in creating spaces for students to develop a community of scholars.

Phone: 858.246.5081
Email: o1padilla@ucsd.edu
Monica Gonzalez (she/her/Ella)

Student Life Operations Specialist

Meet Monica Gonzalez, the Student Life Operations Specialist. In her role, Monica leads the RRC internship program, assesses campus-wide needs around Latinx student organizations and student life, and provides operational support. Monica received her master's in Higher Education Leadership from the University of San Diego.

Before joining the RRC team, Monica worked with commuter students at the University of San Diego Commuter Commons and served as a Residential Director for Summer Bridge and Summer Sessions at UC Berkeley through the ACUHO-I Housing Internship Program. She also worked as a Peer Mentor for Summer Bridge OASIS and researched extracurricular activities for Latinx first-generation students under the McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program with Dr. Frances Contreras.

Monica enjoys walking, painting, playing with her cat, and trying new foods in her free time. She is passionate about research, service leadership, and mentorship and has been working on an action research project for her master's degree that focuses on building community, engagement, and leadership with commuter students.

Monica is excited to join the RRC team and work towards creating a space for Latinx empowerment, leadership, and community at UC San Diego and the greater San Diego area.

Email: magonzalezherrera@ucsd.edu

Phone: 858.534.9095
Ivvan Reyna (She/Ella/He/El)

Facilities and Operations Coordinator

Ivvan Reyna is the newest member of the Raza Resource Centro and has taken on the role of Facilities and Operations Coordinator. They were born in Moreno Valley, California, but grew up in Nestor, California very close to the San Ysidro Border for most of their life. Bilingual in both Spanish and English, but grew up with Lebanese culture/influence. Ivvan’s parents come from El Salvador and San Luis Potosi and both migrated to the U.S. to increase the educational opportunities for Ivvan and their siblings. Ivvan would like to highlight and thank their parents for their sacrifice since it allowed for them to become a 1st Generation QTPOC student. They attended UC San Diego for their undergraduate experience from 2017 to 2022 and majored in Marine Biology, and was involved with Nu Alpha Kappa Fraternity, Inc. from 2018 to 2022.

Ivvan has previous work experience with Raza as a two-time returning intern during their undergrad and after graduating as a temporary administrative assistant for the following three resource center’s: Black Resource Center, Raza Resource Centro, and Intertribal Resource Center. They are passionate, eager, and motivated to provide support on QTPOC student retention and want to assist students that may or may not know their career paths.

Feel free to stop by and say hello to them and feel free to discuss your career plans, critical thinking tactics, and more!

Email: i1reyna@ucsd.edu

Phone: 858.534.5019
Araceli López-Arenas (she/her/ella)

Licensed Psychologist & Raza Resource Centro CAPS Liaison

Araceli López-Arenas, PhD, MPH was born and raised in San Diego, CA. She is a first-gen college student, bilingual/bicultural, Spanish-speaking Latina, and became an “educational nomad” as she engaged in a “parallel migration,” crossing state borders to pursue higher education. She earned her BA from UC Irvine, studied abroad in Mexico City at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), participated in the UCDC program, and completed a summer McNair research program at Washington State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and a Master of Public Health in Social & Behavioral Health from Texas A&M University. She then completed her internship at the VA Pacific Islands Health Care in Hawaii and completed post-doctoral training at UC San Diego and Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital. She currently serves as the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) liaison, hosted at the Raza Resource Centro.

Dr. Araceli has over fifteen years of experience working in healthcare, academia, and community mental health with expertise in psychotherapy, research, program development, implementation, and evaluation, multicultural psychology, and public health psychology, with a focus on health equity. She is now delighted to work in her dream job of addressing the mental health concerns of Latinx/e undergraduate, graduate, and professional students at UCSD. Her mental health specialties include working with first-gen, Latinx/BIPOC, LGBTQ+, immigrants, entrepreneurs, frontline/healthcare workers, military/Veterans, undergrad/grad students, ABD doctoral students, and focuses on addressing life transitions, culture and gender roles, career, anxiety, depression, substance use, trauma/PTSD, and ADHD, among other co-occurring mental health concerns. She particularly enjoys working with individuals who are new to psychotherapy.

Email: lopezara@health.ucsd.edu

Phone: 858.534.3921

Office: Raza Resource Centro, Pepper Canyon Hall, Level 2