Christina Espinoza-Pieb’s walls speak volumes -- like a chapter of history or, actually, two. Collections from the Native American Yaque tribe occupy one side of her office, art from Mexico occupies another. The Yaque deer dancer art represents her father’s heritage, a Mexican wedding plate and paintings represents her mother’s.
As the dean of Academic Services and a former De Anza student, Espinoza-Pieb always needed to work while going to school. “I was never able to stop working,” she says.
But this didn’t stop her academic achievements: she completed her general education at De Anza College, received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Phoenix, her master’s degree from the University of San Francisco in international and multi-culture education, and is now working on her doctorate.
Upon returning to De Anza College, Espinoza-Pieb worked as a volunteer, as a staff assistant in Special Education and as the dean of Academic Services. She also served a stint as the interim vice president of Instruction.
In her job working for the vice presidents, she communicates with the division deans, the Scheduling Office, the Honors Program, the Distance Learning Program and the Academic Senate. Her job is to find solutions to challenges. “I always see my job as being the person who helps fix problems,” she says.
One of her current projects is the Link Program, a group of classes paired with another class. Students enroll in both class sections in the pair, such as a speech class and a psychology class. The two instructors design the classes to enhance one another. This arrangement encourages student communities, which enhances learning efforts, as students are able to get more help from peers than in traditional classes.
In addition to the reading she does for research, she reads fiction and non-fiction, is involved in a Mountain View and Cupertino softball team, and coached her son’s baseball team.
While she’s doing all that, we’ll try to figure out if there are any problems she can’t solve. Please don’t wait up for us.