Donna Garcia, Ph.D.

Donna obtained her doctorate in experimental social psychology from the University of Kansas in June 2006 and her Master’s in applied social psychology from the University of Guelph, Canada, in May 2001. Her field of interest is diversity science and her program of research concerns the effects that cultural legacies of oppression have on psychosocial processes, which in turn shape human functioning (e.g., achievement, motivation, responses to inequity, and self-regulation) in ways that advertently or inadvertently justify and maintain social inequality. She has worked on large-scale initiatives to improve intergroup relations, including fostering positive attitudes towards immigrants, counteract hate groups’ recruitment of youth, and decrease intergroup conflicts in ethnically diverse schools.

Donna has received NSF funding for her research and applied work concerning women’s and ethnic minorities’ participation in STEM fields. In 2009, she was a co-PI on an NSF EHR Core Research Grant that supported her research on intersectionality and broadening women’s participation in STEM fields. In 2017, she was a co-PI on a funded $125,000 CSU Chancellor’s Office mini-grant that supported the “Prejudice Habit Breaking” intervention to advance faculty diversity at CSUSB. She is currently a co-PI on an NSF ADVANCE grant (funded 08/2018) and as the Director, Donna oversees the primary goals of increasing the use of best practices in faculty hiring, evaluation, and stimulating policy and institutional-level change to promote faculty diversity, equity, and inclusion. Donna also served on CSUSB’s President’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee, was a member of the executive committee for that board and chaired the DEI in Faculty Recruitment, Retention and Development Subcommittee. She has also served as a delegate or consultant for other institutions/organizations to help foster greater inclusion in the academy, particularly in STEM fields.