Dr. Cynthia Mosqueda
​Advocacy Chair
El Camino College

Cynthia Mosqueda was the first in her family to graduate from college and credits much of her success to the experiences and relationships in the California Community College system. She is passionate about helping first-year students succeed through the transformational power of education. As an immigrant and first-generation Latina, the community college provided her with an outlet to excel and find her passion for student affairs and counseling.
 
Cynthia serves as the faculty coordinator for the First Year Experience Program at El Camino College, located in Torrance, California. Under her leadership the program was recognized by the Academic State Senate and the Chancellor's office for outstanding contributions to student success, transfer, and retention. In 2012, Cynthia received the First Year Advocate Award from the National Center for First Year Experience and Students in Transition from the University of South Carolina to help first-year students transition into college life. Cynthia oversees first-generation, undocumented, and all first-year student programming.
 
Cynthia has a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology, a Master of Arts in Counseling, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She serves on the boards of Communities in School Los Angeles and the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges. Cynthia is an advocate and works closely with the state legislature to impact community college policy. In this capacity, she led efforts to advance legislation for undocumented students who did not have DACA to participate in community college vocational programs that required a social security number. This bill allows undocumented students to use an individual tax identification number for purposes of a background check instead of a social security number and was signed into law in 2019. Further, she is currently leading policy efforts to require county human services agencies to designate higher education liaisons to public higher education institutions located within the county. This would provide broader access to students with basic needs and reduce barriers for students in need of Cal Fresh and mental health services, as well as help those with food insecurities. 
 
In her 20 + years in the community college system, Cynthia has spearheaded numerous programs and campus-wide initiatives to close equity gaps for students of color.  She is very committed to increasing racial equity outcomes for community college students. 
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Dr. Mosqueda is also an associate adjunct professor in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California.