(Santa Ana)—Rancho Santiago Community College District announces the appointment of Marilyn Martinez-Flores, Ph.D., as the dean of the Division of Library, Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Santiago Canyon College.

Martinez-Flores will have responsibility for the leadership, as well as the administration, of all aspects of this far-ranging division, ensuring that it is in compliance with applicable regulations. She will provide direction to faculty, approve curriculum and program changes, review special event proposals, foster collaboration, and ensure that the division’s program is responsive to the surrounding culturally diverse community. In addition, she will represent the college in community institutions and on state boards and committees.

With 14 years of experience in higher education as a dean, an associate dean, a program director, a consultant, and a researcher, she brings a wide range of expertise to the role. Previously, she was dean of arts, letters, and social sciences at Las Positas College. Before that, she served as dean of instruction, language arts and academic support at Riverside City College where she also served as dean of academic support, associate dean of college program support, and director of the GEAR UP program. Additionally, she also served as an external evaluator for underperforming schools for Riverside and San Bernardino County Schools.

Martinez-Flores has also taught for seven years in the K-12 sector to the graduate level. At the University of California, Riverside, she was a lecturer providing a graduate-level education course and a teaching assistant for undergraduate courses. At the Jurupa Unified School District, she provided adult English as a Second Language (ESL) and citizenship classes, served as a resource teacher, and was a bilingual teacher.

Martinez-Flores is the author of The Intersection of Policy and Practice: Linking Teacher’s Meaning to Actions and contributed to The Substantive and Symbolic Consequences of a District’s Standards-Based Curriculum published by the American Education Research Journal. She is a regular presenter at academic conferences. Martinez-Flores has been honored as Educator of the Year at the Inland Empire Hispanic Image Awards and received a Hispanic Border Leadership Institute Doctoral Fellowship at the University of California, Riverside.

Martinez-Flores received her Ph.D. in institutional leadership and policy studies from University of California, Riverside. She earned an M.A. in education with a Bilingual Crosscultural Language in Academic Development (BCLAD) teaching credential at University of California, Los Angeles and a B.A. in liberal studies with a concentration in education and Spanish at the University of California, Riverside.

About Rancho Santiago Community College District
Santa Ana College and Santiago Canyon College are public community colleges of the Rancho Santiago Community College District, which serves the residents of Anaheim Hills, Garden Grove, Irvine, Orange, Santa Ana, Tustin and Villa Park.  Both colleges provide education for academic transfer and careers, courses for personal and professional development, and customized training for business and industry.