Dr. Amanda Quintero serves as the Senior Advisor to the President for Inclusive Excellence and Equity Innovation Officer for the Global HSI Equity Innovation Hub at California State University, Northridge. In this role, she collaborates with faculty, staff, and students across the University and with other national and international education innovation leaders and equity partners to accelerate an institutional strategy for fostering a sense of belonging, improving retention, and closing equity gaps for all students and employees.
Dr. Quintero’s experience traverses the public service sector and higher education, holding multiple leadership positions developing, administering, and evaluating programs that advance access and educational equity at the campus, CSU system, state, and national level. She brings to this role over 20 years of experience leading institutional change initiatives that build capacity to advance educational equity and student success, including developing culturally relevant and responsive practices, fostering a culture of inclusive excellence, and leading cross-divisional teams that improve student outcomes.
Prior to CSUN, Dr. Quintero served as Associate Vice Provost for Student Success and Equity Initiatives at CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI), where she was a powerful advocate of educational opportunities for historically underrepresented students in the region. She helped facilitate historic gains in student success, and throughout her career, Dr. Quintero has forged public and private partnerships to raise millions ($100M+) in funding to support these efforts. Her work has focused on accelerating first-generation and Chicanx/Latinx student success, which significantly contributed to CSUCI being recognized as the only CSU and Hispanic Serving Institution in California to achieve the inaugural Seal of Excelencia in 2019. During her tenure at CSUCI, she also served as faculty lecturer in the Chicana/o Studies Program, Co-Chair of the Chicana/o Latina/o Faculty and Staff Association, past Council President for the Alliance of HSI Educators (AHSIE), and currently serves on the Board of the Foundation for Student Success.
Dr. Quintero holds the distinction of being a 2021 CSU Wang Award nominee, as well as being presented with a number of prestigious additional awards, including the CSUCI Presidential Medallion. She was profiled by the Apple Education Initiative, CSU as a student success innovator and recognized by the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students as a Transfer Champion Catalyst in 2020.
A first-generation college graduate, Dr. Quintero holds a B.A. in Global Studies from CSU Monterey Bay, M.A. in Public Policy & Administration from CSU Long Beach, and a Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis in Policy, Evaluation, and Reform from Claremont Graduate University.