Julie Garcia Named Interim Associate Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion
Julie A. Garcia has been appointed interim associate vice president (AVP) for Diversity and Inclusion for Cal Poly's Office of University Diversity and Inclusion (OUDI), effective June 29. Garcia, who has served as associate chair for the Psychology and Child Development Department since 2014, has been involved in diversity and inclusion work throughout her 11 years at Cal Poly.
In her role as AVP, Garcia will lead the BEACoN mentoring program, the Collective Impact initiative, and help with strategic planning around campus-wide diversity and inclusion efforts.
As associate chair, Garcia facilitated the internship program, took a leadership role in department diversity efforts and a successful program review, and introduced a new course, "The Social Psychology of Prejudice." At the college level, she served on the College of Liberal Arts Faculty Diversity Committee. University-wide, Garcia has she has led trainings for the Center for Teaching Learning and Technology and was selected as the faculty speaker for the TEDxSLO conference, where she gave a talk on tangible ways people can challenge their implicit biases.
Garcia has also led numerous Cal Poly faculty and staff associations, including serving as past president of the Chicanx Latinx Faculty and Staff Association, and a founding member of the Pride Faculty and Staff Association.
On the national level, Garcia has served as a member and chair on diversity committees for Divisions 8 and 9 of the American Psychological Association.
Garcia's teaching and research excellence have been acknowledged at Cal Poly. She received the California Faculty Association Distinguish Educator Award in 2011, and the College of Liberal of Arts Richard K. Simon Outstanding Scholarship Award in 2012. Garcia's research on stereotyping, prejudice, intergroup relationships, social identity and underrepresentation in STEM has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation.
Garcia earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from California State University, San Bernardino and her master's and doctorate degrees in social psychology from the University of Michigan. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, and a visiting professor at the University of Michigan. She joined Cal Poly in 2007 as an assistant professor, was tenured and promoted to associate professor in 2011, promoted to full professor in 2016, and selected as a faculty associate with OUDI from 2017-18.