Marisela Chávez

Dr. Marisela ChávezMarisela Chávez has been appointed executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence (CAFÉ) at Cal Poly Pomona, part of the California State University system.

Chávez joins the university from California State University, Dominguez Hills where she was the director of the Faculty Development Center (FDC) and a professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies. In 2016, she was awarded the CSUDH Lyle E. Gibson Distinguished Teacher Award.

As director of the CSUDH FDC, Chávez helped foster excellence in teaching, scholarship, creative activities, leadership, and service for all faculty at Dominguez Hills from an equity-minded framework.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Chávez earned her B.A. in American Studies & Spanish from Occidental College, M.A. in History from Arizona State University, ad her Ph.D. in History from Stanford University. Her book Chicana Liberation: Women and Mexican American Politics in Los Angeles, 1945-1981 was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2024.