Barrera, Magdalena L.
- Vice Provost for Faculty Success, Office of the Provost
- Accreditation Liaison Officer for WASC Senior College and University Commission
- Professor, Chicana and Chicano Studies
Preferred: magdalena.barrera@sjsu.edu
Telephone
Preferred: (408) 924-2405
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy, Modern Thought and Literature, Stanford University, 2006
- Bachelor of Arts, English (with Honors) and Latin American Studies, University of Chicago, 1997
Bio
Dr. Magdalena L. Barrera is the inaugural Vice Provost for Faculty Success at San
José State University (SJSU). In this role, she oversees all aspects of the faculty
recruitment and the tenure and promotion processes, and is committed to recruiting
and retaining diverse faculty who bring asset-minded pedagogies to the classroom.
Dr. Barrera also heads SJSU's Accessible Technology Initiative and Hispanic Serving
Institution initiatives.
Prior to joining the Office of the Provost in 2020, she was Professor and Department
Chair of Chicana and Chicano Studies. As a faculty member, she taught Chicanx history,
literature, film, comparative Ethnic Studies, public speaking, and more. During that
time, she also served for two years as the Faculty-in-Residence for Diversifying the
Faculty in SJSU’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and a year as a Faculty
Fellow at the Chicanx/Latinx Student Success Center.
Dr. Barrera’s current research focuses on the experiences of historically underserved
students and faculty in higher education; her work has appeared in a wide range of
journals, edited collections, and higher education news outlets. She is the co-author
of The Latinx Guide to Graduate School (Duke University Press, 2023), a book that exposes the unspoken rules and expectations
of grad school so that students can merge their academic and cultural identities—finding
success not simply to play the game, but to transform institutions and widen the path
for those who follow.
Dr. Barrera is the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants and first in her family to
pursue post-secondary degrees. She holds a B.A. in English and Latin American Studies
from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford
University. She is honored to have been a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow (1996-97)
and an Institute for Citizens and Scholars Career Enhancement Fellow (2011-2012).
An avid photographer, lifelong bookworm, and dog lover, she enjoys traveling the world
with her husband, most recently visiting France, Morocco, and Bali.