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Student Affairs welcomes new associate vice provost of inclusion, community and integrative learning

Samuel Santos Jr. will lead efforts to support students’ sense of community and belonging.

Samuel Santos Jr. portrait

Samuel Santos Jr. (Image credit: Andy Myers)

Samuel Santos Jr., assistant vice chancellor for student engagement at the University of California, Berkeley, has been named associate vice provost of inclusion, community and integrative learning within the Division of Student Affairs at Stanford. His appointment begins August 1.

In this role, Santos will lead Student Affairs’ efforts to center diversity, equity, and inclusion in programs supporting students’ sense of community and belonging. Organizations reporting through him will include the Centers for Equity, Community and Leadership (the seven community centers), the Office of First Generation/Low-Income Programs, the Office for Military-Affiliated Communities, the Office of Student Engagement, Fraternity and Sorority Life, Stanford Career Education, and the Office for Inclusion, Belonging and Intergroup Communication.

“Samuel comes to us rich in equity and inclusion leadership experience, a core element of his new role and our most important work,” Vice Provost for Student Affairs Susie Brubaker-Cole said. “Samuel’s campus interviews demonstrated his honest, authentic, personable, strategic, well-rounded and student-centered ethos. He also brings deep experience and expertise in equity and inclusion and student learning, and I am thrilled to welcome Samuel to Stanford.”

Santos will replace Emelyn dela Peña, Student Affairs’ first associate vice provost for inclusion, community and integrative learning. Appointed in May 2019, she departs at the end of June to become vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion at Loyola Marymount University. Jan Barker-Alexander, assistant vice provost for inclusion and community and executive director for the Centers for Equity, Community and Leadership, will serve as interim associate vice provost between dela Peña’s departure and Santos’ arrival.

“I am most excited about joining an inspiring team of student affairs professionals who prioritize the care and support of all Stanford students in a way that inspires joy, exploration and learning,” Santos said.

Santos joins Stanford with nearly two decades of experience in the student affairs field. He has served as assistant vice president for student affairs and dean of students University of Houston, Downtown; and interim vice chancellor for student development, associate vice chancellor of student success and equity, and dean of student affairs and wellness at City College San Francisco. He began his career at an identity-based cultural center – the LGBT Center at UC San Diego –  and then as the director of the Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity at UC Santa Barbara.

“Having been a direct recipient of excellent student affairs support on my academic journey, I understand how thoughtful, culturally responsive services are essential in order to recruit, retain, and center the dignity of all students,” he said.

Santos is pursuing a doctorate of education at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education, Leaders for Equity and Democracy (LEAD) program. He holds a master’s in education, multicultural and community-based counseling, from San Diego State University, and a bachelor’s in Mexican American Studies, Literary and Cultural Studies Track, from the University of Texas at San Antonio.