Yvonne Rodriguez, UCSC

Yvonne Rodriguez has a wide range of academic interests. As an undergraduate at UCSC, she originally planned to study Chicana poetry. However, after taking and Earth Catastrophes class taught by the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department at UCSC, she knew she wanted to major in physics. After high school, Rodriguez joined the Air Force and was stationed in Germany where she married a fellow member of the Air Force and became a mother of three. Upon completion of her assignment, Rodriguez returned to school at Chabot Community College in Hayward, California. It was the Puente Project at Chabot that introduced her to UCSC. She was so impressed with UCSC that when it came time to transfer, it was the only campus where she applied. Each day Rodriguez made the journey from Hayward to Santa Cruz via bus. At UCSC, Rodriguez became involved with the Educational Opportunities Program (EOP) and Services for Transfer and Re-entry Students (STARS), providing her additional support.

As an undergraduate, Rodriguez was able to get part-time work related to her field, such as mapping the Monterey Bay floor with the U.S. Geological Survey and working with UCSC’s ACE (ACademic Excellence) honors program. Now a graduate student in the doctoral program in physics, Rodriguez is also working for EOP and teaching a pre-calculus course for Bridge, a program that helps certain EOP students' transition from high school to university.

Rodriguez, a first-generation college student, was unfamiliar with the university life when she was growing up. She believes her children, who grew up on the UCSC campus, have benefited from the experience. In fact, one of her children recently graduated from a UC, and the remaining two are enrolled at California universities.