Ethnic Studies Department Faculty and Staff
Department Chair &Assistant Professor of Critical Pacific Islands & Oceania Studies & Asian American
Studies Administrative Support Coordinator Assistant Professor of Latinx Studies Assistant Professor of Native American & Indigenous Studies Associate Professor of Black Studies Assistant Professor of Latinx StudiesFaculty and Staff Directory
Dr. Sataraka is a first-generation college student, born and raised on the homelands
of the Puyallup and Nisqually Tribes (Tacoma, WA, USA), born to parents from South
Korea and Amerika Samoa. He currently lives with the love of his life, Pedro Navejas
Rodriguez, and their emotionally dependent dog Katara (#ATLAB).
Dr. Sataraka was honored with the 2025 Campus Champion Award for his leadership and
contributions to the LGBTQ+Pride community here at CSUB.
https://www.csub.edu/people-and-culture/culture-and-belonging/lgbtq-pride.shtml
Dr. Maria Gutierrez de Jesus received her Ph.D. in Native American Studies from the
University of California at Davis. She is an Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies
at California State University, Bakersfield. Her teaching and research interests include
Indigenous-based pedagogies and community-based education, Indigenous media with a
focus on community-owned media, Indigenous women, and Indigenous cultural and language
revitalization and reclamation practices. She is currently working on her first book
manuscript, tentatively titled “Juchari Anapu Jimpo! Reclamation of the Heritage Language
and Identity: Social Processes, Oral Memory, and Innovations in the Non-P’urhépecha
Speaking Communities of Lake Pátzcuaro,” which traces Indigenous language reclamation
practices in her home community, Huecorio, Michoacán, Mexico.
Dr. José G. Villagrán was born and raised on the migrant farmworker circuits between
Northern California, South Texas, and Wisconsin. He earned an M.A. in Mexican-American
Studies and a Ph.D. in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of Texas at
Austin and has an extensive teaching background in Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x Studies.
He researches Latinx labor with a particular focus on migrant and seasonal farmworkers
of the “Midwest stream” between South Texas and the U.S. Midwest.
