Autobiography of Dr. Sandra Pacheco


Dr. Sandra Pacheco received her B.A. in Psychology with departmental honors from California State University, Los Angeles in 1989. In 1997, she received her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

In 1996, Dr. Pacheco joined the interdisciplinary faculty of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Center at California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB), a "start-up" university in its second year of operation. Her appointment was a combination of teaching and administrative duties geared towards developing and advancing various programs in this "start-up" environment. Dr. Pacheco's teaching responsibilities included courses in research methodology, data analysis, service learning in multicultural communities, computer applications for the social sciences, critical psychology, introduction to the social and behavioral sciences, and senior capstone. In addition to classroom teaching, Dr. Pacheco served in numerous administrative capacities. As a Faculty Associate with the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, she worked closely with faculty across the campus to develop learning outcomes for courses and corresponding assessment techniques. She facilitated workshops to assist faculty with aligning course outcomes with teaching, learning and assessment components. As a Service Learning Consultant, she worked with faculty to develop learning outcomes that went beyond cognitive skills. She also designed an online database to facilitate assessment of service learning outcomes that is currently being beta-tested by faculty and students. As an Assessment Specialist, she coordinated the student-feedback component for WASC review. Most recently, Dr. Pacheco coordinated the first conference on Critical Psychology in the United States, which was cosponsored with UCSC.

Dr. Pacheco's research interest cover a diverse range of topics. Her recent scholarly works include topics on: assessment in higher education, service learning pedagogy in diverse settings, intersectionality of identities in high achieving Latinas, spirituality in higher education, media gender stereotypes, critical pedagogy, Latina spirituality, and discourse analysis of social justice narratives.

In August 2001, Dr. Pacheco was appointed to the position of Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.