Yvette Gullatt serves as vice president for graduate and undergraduate affairs; vice provost for equity, diversity, and inclusion; and chief diversity officer for the University of California system. She oversees systemwide programs, services, and initiatives that maximize degree attainment, including outreach and educational partnerships, student affairs, financial aid, undergraduate admissions, graduate studies, teacher education and teacher professional development, and online education. She has served in a variety of UC systemwide leadership positions, including vice provost for education partnerships, vice provost for diversity and engagement, and interim vice president for student affairs. She has launched key initiatives to expand UC’s role in public education, such as information systems that increase access to college-preparatory coursework and improve college eligibility rates and partnerships with K–12 schools, California higher education institutions, and community-based organizations to improve academic preparation for more first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented students. Before joining the Office of the President, she served for eight years in a variety of administrative and leadership roles at UC Berkeley. She received her BA, MA, and PhD degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.

Aisha Lowe is executive vice chancellor of the Office of Equitable Student Learning, Experience, and Impact in the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. In this leadership position, she leads academic affairs, student services, and workforce & economic development, overseeing over $3 billion in funding and numerous statewide programs and initiatives. Previously, she served as vice chancellor of educational services and supports at the Chancellor’s Office, where she provided leadership for the Academic Affairs unit. Prior to joining the Chancellor’s Office in 2020, she served as associate professor of education at William Jessup University, where she oversaw the thesis research of future teachers in training. She also served as the dean of the Office of Academic Research, leading the university’s strategic academic research plan and academic grant-making. Additionally, she has been an adjunct professor at the Los Rios Community College District, Sierra College, and California State University, Sacramento. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s in sociology, and a PhD in educational psychology from Stanford University.

Laura J. Massa serves as interim associate vice chancellor for academic and faculty programs at the California Student University’s Office of the Chancellor. In this role, she manages several academic departments including Academic Programs, Academic Technology Services, Innovative Teaching and Future Faculty Development, and the CSU Healthcare Workforce Development program. She provides guidance in a wide variety of academic matters including general education, curriculum development, and faculty development. Prior to this role, she served for five years as associate vice president for academic programs and accreditation liaison officer at Cal Poly Pomona, and served for a decade before that leading the Office of Assessment at Loyola Marymount University. Her doctorate is in cognitive psychology with an interdisciplinary emphasis in quantitative methods for the social sciences.

Marisol Cuellar Mejia is a research fellow at the PPIC Higher Education Center. Her research focuses on community college students and their path towards a four-year degree. Her recent projects have focused on examining statewide reforms to developmental education, recent trends and barriers to transfer from community colleges to four-year colleges, and the economic returns to a college degree. She is also a member of the PPIC Economic Policy Center, where she studies labor market trends. Her other areas of expertise include housing in California, and demographic trends. Before joining PPIC, she worked at Colombia’s National Association of Financial Institutions as an economic analyst, concentrating on issues related to the manufacturing sector and small business. She has also conducted agricultural and commodity market research for the Colombian National Federation of Coffee Growers and the National Federation of Palm Oil Growers of Colombia. She holds a master’s degree in economics from Universidad del Rosario and a master’s degree in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California, Davis. 

Cesar Alesi Perez is a research associate at the PPIC Higher Education Center. His work has focused on understanding how educational opportunities and outcomes differ across California, examining the relationship between higher education and economic opportunity, and analyzing the impact of placement and curricular reforms at California community colleges. Before joining PPIC, he was a research assistant at the San Diego Housing Commission, concentrating on evaluating economic security and mobility among rental assistance recipients. He also worked at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and as a hands-on educator at multiple levels of education. He holds an MPP from the School of Global Policy and Strategy at University of California, San Diego and a BA in economics from University of California, Los Angeles.