PRINCETON’S NEW DIRECTOR FOR ACCESS AND OPPORTUNITY

Khristina Gonzalez currently serves as the Director for the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity in Princeton University. With the goal of enhancing and expanding Princeton University’s fundamental commitment to the college success of talented students from first-generation, lower-income and underrepresented backgrounds, Bloomberg Philanthropies made a significant gift that established the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, your roots.

I am, at heart, a girl from a working class family in Poughkeepsie, New York. My mother, Colette, was born and raised in Queens, NY and hails from Polish and German immigrants. My father, Andy, was born and raised in Lima, Peru and immigrated to the United States in the 1970s. That they had the opportunity to meet and marry is truly a story of New York City’s diversity—and luck.

My mother and father are not only the hardest working people that I know (they still show up to my house to help shovel the driveway, even though it should definitely be the other way around), they also empowered my brother and me to pursue our own educational paths, even when that meant that I insisted on studying obscure 19th century literature and culture. This support often meant that they were making great sacrifices, which my brother and I did not even know about. Only recently, when I asked him how he possibly knew how to pave a patio, did my father tell me that he took on additional construction work each morning before he started his shift as a chef in order to make my tuition payments at Dartmouth.

Through their work, their love, and their faith in us, my parents built a platform from which my brother and I could launch into our own academic and professional paths. They empowered us to ask questions, to take risks, and to never be content with injustice. Both my brother and I now work in education and we both specialize in educational access and equity work.

How did the start of your career look like?

I often say that I consider myself the proud product of diversity and inclusion pipeline initiatives. I entered college thinking that I would be a lawyer, largely because it was the only professional pathway that I knew that didn’t involve science or math! In my first year of college, a professor nominated me for the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program, which supports Black, Latinx, and Native American students in their pursuit of the Ph.D., with the goal of diversifying faculty at colleges and universities. At the time, I had no real knowledge of the path toward graduate school or a doctoral degree, but this faculty member, Keala Jewell, saw something in me that I didn’t see at the time—a love for research and teaching. I was selected for the Mellon Mays fellowship, and through her mentorship and advising, ended up pursuing graduate school in English Literature. I was supported in that pursuit by other pipeline programs, like the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers at Andover, which advised me through the application process and financed all of my applications.

During graduate school, I realized that as much as I loved literary research, I was more drawn to the work of teaching, mentoring, and advising. I wanted to ensure that other students would have the same support and opportunity that I had. I had experienced so much good fortune in my educational journey: meeting the right mentor at the right time, receiving fellowships, etc. I realized that I wanted to have a career that focused on creating broad, equitable academic pathways for all students, particularly those from marginalized communities. I wanted to create programs that would institutionalize the luck that I had experienced, creating opportunity for all.

What excites you the most about your new role as director?

My favorite thing about my role is the time that I get to spend with our Fli (first-generation, lower-income) student community at Princeton. It is a real pleasure to be able to learn from our students about their experiences and to work with them to build initiatives and programs to support future generations. At Princeton, we are privileged to have the resources to be able to experiment and innovate, as we work to create a truly inclusive and equitable campus—one that reflects, empowers, and grows our diverse student body. As a result, we have a commitment to use these resources responsibly; to ensure that our work reaches beyond our campus gates and has a positive impact on students nationwide. I am excited about the opportunity that the Center provides to scale this work and serve in a convening role, broadly sharing best practices for promoting educational access and opportunity. I’m also eager to help highlight and support the work that our colleagues at Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities have long done to serve and empower our minoritized student communities.

Can you tell us more about the Latino student population in Princeton?

It is an incredibly strong and diverse population. Our students hail from all over the globe, so the members of our Latinx community have varied backgrounds and lived experiences. Some students come from communities and high schools with large Latinx population, where they spoke Spanish at home and at school. Some of our Latinx students come from majority White communities and haven’t had the opportunity to learn or speak Spanish. But at Princeton, there is an opportunity to come together to discuss shared elements of culture, to learn more about our diverse heritages, and to speak across and through difference. It is an ideal space to think through the multiplicity of Latinx identity—and, of course, to have fun and join awesome student groups like Princeton Latinos y Amigos and Mas Flow. Students also have the chance to connect and grow cross-generational friendships with Latino alumni through groups like ALPA (Association of Latino Princeton Alumni) and their regular cafecitos.

How will this new center aid current and future Latino students?

The Center’s aim is to ensure equity of opportunity for students, particularly those from historically marginalized communities. The goal is to address persistent inequities in access to educational and professional pathways. For instance, we know that the percentage of Latinx faculty members at US colleges and universities has hovered at the low rate of about 4-5% nationwide. It is very difficult for Latinx students to see themselves in a particular career or opportunity, if they have never seen anyone like them in a similar position. The Center will work to create new pathways for Latinx and other BIPOC students to pursue fields in which they have been historically underrepresented, so that, over time, these gaps will be erased. More generally, the Center provides us with the opportunity to ensure that students feel that they can bring their full selves to the University.

Why should Latinos consider schools such as Princeton? What would be your advice?

As a historically White and wealthy institution, Princeton still carries, for many, a reputation for being “snobby” and exclusive. I myself did not consider Princeton as a high-school student because I had that perception! But my advice to students would be that they should get to know our awesome community. We have a vibrant Latinx community and, more broadly, vibrant communities of color. At places like Princeton, you’ll have the chance to think broadly and expansively about your academic and professional path, while being supported through ongoing mentorship, socioemotional, and financial support. There is a place for you on this campus—and you do belong here.”