Event Date
Creating a vision board gets your ideas, hopes and dreams for the upcoming academic year out of your head and into your reality. The vision board process can be used for personal or professional goals. Participants will leave the conference with their own vision board.
Brenda Cuevas
Brenda Cuevas is a graduate student services advisor within the College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences at the University of California, Riverside. Her primary duties include admissions, recruitment, and enrolled student support for three graduate programs. She has 6 years of higher education experience and is well versed in graduate student affairs. Brenda is a UCR alumna receiving both her B.A. degree and M.Ed. degree in Higher Education Administration and Policy.
Marlene Garcia
Marlene Garcia is a first-generation student and the first in her family to graduate with a master's degree. Marlene graduated from Cal State Fullerton in 2016 and received her master's in Spanish Literature & Linguistics. Her passion has always been education; she worked as a coordinator at CSUF Humanities and Social Sciences Student Success Center, where she learned from the advising team, and that is when she knew she was meant to be an advisor. Marlene then started her advising career at Arizona State University, advising undergraduate students. Currently, she works at the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at UC Riverside, advising masters and doctoral students.
Dr. Dawn Loyola
Dr. Dawn Loyola has extensive experience in graduate student advising and graduate program management at UCR and UCSD. She earned her Ed.D. degree in Higher Education Leadership from Maryville University, Saint Louis, MO in May 2020. She also holds an M.A. in Transpersonal Psychology from Sofia University in Palo Alto, CA, a B.A. in Applied Studies from Brandman University-Chapman University System in Orange, CA, and an A.A. in Psychology from Southwestern Community College in Chula Vista, CA. Her research interests are department climate and graduate student experience and success, specifically for minoritized students and women in STEM. She is a professional member of NACADA, the Global Association for Academic Advising, where she has presented at numerous national and regional conferences and published in the NACADA Journal in 2022. She enjoys nature walks, figure skating, dancing, reading, and spending time with family, friends, and pets.
Nikita McWells
Nikita McWells is a Graduate Student Services Advisor for the Entomology and Neuroscience PhD programs at the University of California, Riverside. She has an MBA with a concentration in Leadership and Management from the University of La Verne in Southern California. Her advising focus is on developmental advising and retention efforts.
Fidel Rivas
As a Student Services Advisor, Fidel Rivas' primary duties include supporting graduate students in doctoral and master's programs, participating in academic committees, admissions, and organizing events for recruitment and symposiums. He has nearly 10 years of experience working in higher education, including graduate and undergraduate student affairs. Prior to joining the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at UC Riverside, he worked as the assistant director of admissions for The Chicago School of Professional Psychology in Anaheim. Fidel received his BA in Psychology from UC Santa Cruz.