Expertise:
Higher Education, Student Success, First-Generation College Students, Graduation Initiative 2025 (for Cal Poly Pomona), Transfer Student Support, Academic Advising, First-Year Experience, URM Student Success Programs, Public Universities & Student SuccessAs the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Terri Gomez is the university’s chief academic officer with responsibility for academic programs, administration of academic resources, student success and the planning and implementation of key initiatives focused on student success and faculty recruitment and retention.
Gomez joined Cal Poly Pomona as a faculty member in the Department of Ethnic & Women’s Studies and has served the campus in a variety of roles including advisor, department chair, interim associate dean and interim associate vice president, and the founding director of the PolyTransfer Program, one of the first transfer student first-year experience programs of its kind in the CSU system. She previously served as the Associate Provost of Student Success, Equity and Innovation.
As associate vice president for student success, Gomez has guided the development of the Office of Student Success, which oversees student success initiatives, university advising, academic support services and first-year experience programs. She provides strategic oversight of campus progress on the CSU Graduation Initiative 2025, full implementation of data-supported College-Based Student Success Teams, and implementation of campus predictive analytics and early alert system in the fall.
Under her guidance, a new 2018 Summer Completion Grant Initiative offered students with eight units or fewer to degree, grants to cover tuition, books and supplies as well as a guarantee that their needed classes would be offered and an on-campus meal card. Of the 327 students who participated, 95 percent completed their degrees. Among grant recipients, 62% were Pell Grant eligible, 61.8% were first-generation college students, and 50% were from historically under-represented groups.
Recent Grants and Fellowships:
- White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, “TRANSFERmations: Creating Latino Transfer Pathways from High School to a Four-Year University through PolyTransfer,” 2015
- With D.L. Brandon and C. Santiago-Gonzalez, Cal Poly Pomona Kellogg Legacy Grant, “PolyTransfer Peer Mentoring: Expanding HIPs to Support Transfer Student Success,” 2015
- With W. Dong, M. Danico and L. Guzman Scott, Cal Poly Pomona Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Grant, “Assessing Peer Mentoring at Cal Poly Pomona,” 2015
- With D.L. Brandon and M. Allard, “PolyTransfer Initiative, California State University Chancellor’s Academic and Student Success Program, 2013
- With J.A. Pacleb and S.L. Dixon, Cal Poly Pomona Hugh O. LaBounty Chair in Interdisciplinary Studies Grant, “Challenging Social Norms: Re-envisioning Women, Gender, Sexuality, and the Body,” 2012
- With G.R. Cadena and J.A. Pacleb, Hugh O. LaBounty Chair in Interdisciplinary Studies Grant, “Civic Engagement and the Arts, A Collaborative Grant with the EWS Dept., Center for Community Service Learning and Office of Student Life Cal Poly Pomona,” 2011
Selected Publications:
- CPP Magazine, “Transforming Access to Opportunity,” Spring 2020
- With C. Santiago-Gonzalez, “PolyTransfer: A Dynamic and Collaborative Approach to Transfer Student Success,” The Journal of College Orientation and Transition 24:1, 2016
- With E. Ballon, C. Chavez and S. Posey, “A sisterhood of solace and compassion: community building in and out of the classroom,” Community Works Journal 11, 2010
- With E. Ballon, C. Chavez and S. Posey, “Are you oppressed if you don’t think you are? Defining and defending prosperity among working class students in a public university,” Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 35:6, 2007
Interviews:
- “$18 million will help students seek careers in healthcare, high tech – and fight racism, too,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Sept. 30, 2022
- “Race on Campus: How to Win Hispanic Students Back,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. 22, 2022
- “‘If Students Don’t Have A Purpose, They’ll Get Lost’: How Colleges Are Winning Back Students Who Left,” LAist, Jan. 27, 2022
- “The pandemic cost transfer students vital time on campus: Some want it back,” EdSource, June 23, 2021
- “Two jobs, full course loads, COVID-19 battles: CSU students perservere amid equity gaps,” Los Angeles Times, March 29, 2021
- “How COVID-19 and budget woes have changed what ‘back to school’ means at Cal State,” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 24, 2020
- “Cal Poly Pomona Makes Strong Progress on CSU’s Graduation Initiative,” InlandEmpire.US, Oct. 24, 2018
- “Supporting Student Success,” Cal Poly Pomona CEIS Podcast, Feb. 5, 2018
- “Cal State looks to boost 4-year graduation rates,” Daily Democrat, Aug. 29, 2016
- “White House lauds Cal Poly Pomona, Pomona Unified for TRANSFERmation program,” Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Oct. 15, 2015
Education:
B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles