Cindy Chavez Swenson 
(She/Her/Ella)

Board Chair

Cindy is a first-generation academic, born in Santa Clara, CA, but raised in Los Banos, CA, a child of Mexican immigrants, whose research focuses on urban education and medical humanities. Chavez Swenson received her doctorate from the University of Southern California in Urban Education Leadership, with an emphasis in Educational Psychology, Neuropsychology and Economics. She received an additional graduate degree from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid in cultural studies and North American philology, having also completed the double-MA program at Saint Louis University (Madrid Campus) in English (Research). As community college transfer student, she completed her BA in modern literature and journalism from UC Santa Cruz.