Meet the Staff

Betsy is the Director of Women, Gender, and Sexual Equity, which encompasses the Women's Center and the Non-Traditional Student Resource Center. She came to UCSB after spending eleven years as a faculty member at a public university in Connecticut. She enjoyed teaching courses on subjects such as social movements, LGBTQ communities, research methods, and the sociology of music, but decided that she preferred working with students outside of the classroom on programs that reach across the university community. Influenced by her academic background in social movements, Betsy’s approach in mentoring students is to support them in identifying their strengths, envisioning their goals, and building coalitions in pursuit of social justice!

As the Associate Director of Women, Gender, and Sexual Equity, Viviana (all gender pronouns) is dedicated to bridging the gap between scholarship and activism, recognizing the immense potential of combining rigorous academic insights with tangible on-the-ground experience and strategy. Viviana has spent the past ten years sharpening a feminist approach to critique the historical and philosophical frameworks that our society is built on. They see the Women's Center as the perfect space to help cultivate student's emerging feminist consciousness and the issues that they feel most connected to. The Women's Center becomes the necessary supplement to put what students learn in the classroom into practice and amplify their impact.

Viviana got her Master of Arts in American Studies with an Sexuality and Gender at Columbia University in 2020 and her Bachelor of Arts in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with a minor in Chicana/o Studies from UC Davis in 2018. Viviana is also currently working on their Doctorate in Feminist Studies at UCSB. Her research examines the utopic potential at the crossroads of anarchism and sex work, inspired by historical resistance in lesser known internationalist archives and a continued adaptability of sex work organizers to work outside of and despite the violent structures of the state. On her time off, Viviana likes to play tenor saxophone in various bands across California, fantasize about interior design projects, and figure out if her cat actually likes her.

Drop-in hours vary, schedule time with Viviana here.