Lilliana Patricia Saldaña, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Mexican American Studies
University of Texas at San Antonio
(two year term)
Lilliana Patricia Saldaña, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Mexican American Studies (MAS) at the University of Texas at San Antonio where she served as Program Coordinator for undergraduate studies between 2019-2023 and currently serves as Graduate Advisor of Record (2021-present). She has been a member of NACCS Tejas Foco for 20 years and has been an active member of the NACCS Tejas Foco MAS PreK-12 Committee which has organized its Annual Statewide Summit on MAS since 2016. She is currently co-chair of the NACCS Tejas Foco with Rosalva Resendiz and is excited by the possibility of serving as an At-Large Representative for the national organization. Lilliana is committed to working directly with NACCS caucuses and focos and the executive board, learning from members, and taking on roles and responsibilities to help grow and sustain the national organization.
Jose M. Aguilar-Hernandez, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Educational Leadership
Cal Poly University, Pomona
(one year term)
José M. Aguilar-Hernández, Ph.D., also known as Pepe, is Professor and Doctoral Program Co-Director in the Educational Leadership Department at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He has over 17 years of experience teaching Chicana/o Studies and Ethnic Studies in higher education, and is currently coordinating a dual enrollment program between his campus and Pomona Unified School District high schools. Aguilar-Hernández is the outgoing Director of the Cal Poly Pomona Office of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies (OIES), where he supported university-wide efforts around the California State University Ethnic Studies requirement (also known as Area F). Furthemore, he first attended a NACCS conference in 2003 in Los Angeles, and served as the Joto Caucus Co-chair between 2008-2010. He helped lead efforts when the NACCS Joto and Lesbian, BiMujeres, and Trans Caucuses (now the Jotería caucus) co-hosted three conferences focused on Queer and Trans Chicana/o/x topics, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Los Angeles, California, and Eugene, Oregon. Aguilar-Hernández also participated in the Southern California Foco meetings, including regional symposia.
During the 2024-25 year, Aguilar-Hernández was appointed by the board to serve as at-large representative, and during that time, he has made contact with focos, caucuses, and supported the NACCS board efforts in their transition. If selected by the membership, part of his agenda in the next years is to strengthen membership participation in the focos and caucuses, and to support the board in reenvisioning NACCS for years to come.
Jose Navarro, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Ethnic Studies
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
(two year term)
I have been a NACCista for many years but my first experience with NACCS was nearly 30 years ago. While I was an undergraduate student at Berkeley in the late 1990s, I was invited to be on a panel with Profesora Laura Pérez and others to talk about the intersections of: Chicana Feminist Thought, Chicana Feminist writers like Gloria Anzaldúa, Cherríe Moraga, and Sandra Cisneros, and literature by Chicano men like Arturo Islas, Gil Cuadros, and Luis J. Rodriguez. Needless to say, this was a life-altering experience for me. As an undergraduate, I felt incredibly anxious about presenting at NACCS. Unsurprisingly, however, I found NACCS to be a very welcoming and supportive environment—even for an undergraduate student whose ideas were not fully developed at the time. This initial experience at NACCS, as a result, forms the current basis for my desire to be an at-large representative. That is—I would like to contribute to maintaining the welcoming and supportive environment that I experienced as an undergraduate student long ago. Furthermore, I would like to ensure that such an environment is created for, sustained, and extended to all NACCistas. Additionally, I have experience in shared governance as Vice Chair of our campus Academic Senate, as the Department Chair of Ethnic Studies at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and as one of the two Latinx Caucus representatives on the California State University (CSU) Council on Ethnic Studies’ Coordinating Committee. My hope is that my experience in shared governance and my commitment to NACCS as a welcoming and supportive organization and conference will make me an excellent candidate for at-large rep. Thank you for your consideration.
AT-LARGE REPRESENTATIVE
Duties: At Large Reps represent and communicate with the general membership. They are assigned designated Focos and Caucuses to communicate and prepare reports for Board. Serve as primary contact for Focos and Caucuses to assist with policies, resolutions, and to convey concerns of the regions and caucuses to the board. Attend monthly Conference Call meetings, ten months during the year. Attend midyear meetings, serve on committees as designated, and attend and participate at Annual meetings. During annual meeting participate in board meetings. Participate in NACCS for Beginners and Leadership Orientation, and in the general business meeting. During the annual meetings attend one of the meetings of each of their constituency Foco and Caucus groups. Hold office hours to assist Foco and Caucus leadership with questions regarding policies and general issues.
Requirements for candidacy: Must be members in good standing. Must have a record of involvement in their regional Foco, NACCS involvement in Foco, Caucuses, and have held leadership roles in the organization. Must be knowledgeable of NACCS bylaws and procedures of non-profit organizations.