
Student Success and Equity

17,044
Hours of tutoring provided through Learning Support Services
400+
Events, fairs, workshops, and programs hosted
2,535
Students participated in career coaching


Student Success and Equity (SSE) includes a wide range of academic and non-academic programs and initiatives designed to support student success, especially as it relates to retention of underrepresented students. From resource centers and tutoring to career success, SSE aims to create a supportive and inclusive environment that addresses disparities, enhances student outcomes and fosters a sense of belonging for all students.
Student Success: Regardless of their entry point, each individual is entitled to transformative experiences. Students have the opportunity, privilege, and access to engage in learning and unlearning various definitions of achievement. We are responsible for creating the conditions for students to achieve their self-determined goals, experience validation, develop as contributing members of the community, and expand their possibilities.

SPOTLIGHT ON:
Underground Scholars
UCSC’s Underground Scholars program helps create pathways into higher education and provides support and opportunities for students who identify as formerly incarcerated and/or system impacted. These efforts are rooted in the belief that higher education should provide the foundation for creativity, critical thinking, personal and professional development, and the means to achieve these.


Our Departments
Career Success
Career Success offers career coaching for students and alumni, hosts career fairs, recruitment events, info sessions, and workshops. In addition, Career Success connects students with experiential learning opportunities on campus, manages hiring for on-campus positions, and serves as a hub for career resources.
Disability Resource Center (DRC)
The DRC provides a wide range of services and accommodations to help ensure that students with disabilities have equal access to education and all aspects of campus life.
Educational Opportunity Programs (EOP)
EOP provides various academic and personal support programs to first-generation to college, low-income students with diverse social and personal identities and from historically marginalized backgrounds.
Hispanic-Serving Institution Initiatives (HSI)
UCSC’s Hispanic-Serving Institution team is committed to long-term change efforts that ensure Latinx students wholeheartedly take part in the UCSC community, find success on their educational journey and eventually graduate to make an impact in the world.
Learning Support Services (LSS)
Learning Support Services is UCSC’s undergraduate tutoring center serving over 100 courses per quarter and over 3000 students per year. Inclusive tutoring sessions are facilitated by peers to build a strong foundation for success. LSS hires and trains 150 undergraduate students each year as successfully certified tutors.
African, Black, and Caribbean (ABC) Student Success
The Office for ABC Student Success advocates for the holistic success of ABC students, actively working to remove barriers from the ABC student experience. The office plays a key role in the leadership of the Black Experience Team (BET), and spans all areas of the student experience.
Resource Centers
Our resource centers aim to help students feel fully affirmed in their diverse and intersecting identities. They include the African American Resource and Cultural Center, American Indian Resource Center, Asian American/Pacific Islander Resource Center, Chicanx Latinx Resource Center, Lionel Cantú Queer Resource Center, and Womxn’s Center.
Services for Transfer Reentry and Resilient Scholars (STARRS)
STARRS guides students who disproportionately enter higher education through community colleges including those who have experiences with transferring, returning to school at an older age, military, being parents, foster care, homelessness, incarceration, or family trauma. STARRS provides counseling, drop-in advising, and a lounge with study space and free printing.
Leadership

Ebonée Williams, Ph.D. (she/her)
Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Success and Equity
Ebonée Williams began her tenure as Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Success and Equity in May 2022. Ebonée came to UC Santa Cruz from UC San Diego. There she held a number of roles, including director of the Gordon Engineering Leadership Center and interim assistant vice chancellor of student retention and success. Most recently, Ebonée served on the student affairs leadership team as the director of virtual experience and peer engagement initiatives. She did most of this while teaching in multiple engineering departments as part of a lecturer appointment.
A first-generation college student, she earned a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Washington, a master of science in industrial business management from the Lille Business School, and a bachelor of science in chemical engineering from Brown University. In 2015, she earned a professional performance coaching certificate. Last year, she completed the UC Executive Leadership Academy.
“It is inspiring to see the student success and equity team create transformational experiences for students with various lived experiences to achieve their self-determined goals, experience validation, and develop as contributing members of community, which we hope expands their possibilities.” – Dr. Ebonée Williams
Meet Our Directors
Lenora Willis
Executive Director, Office for ABC Student Success
Emily A White
Executive Director, Career Success
Nancy Kim
Executive Director, Resource Centers
Charis Herzon
Director, Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives
Karen Nielson
Director, Disability Resource Center
Jesus Morales
Director, Educational Opportunity Programs
Sharon Castro
Director, Learning Support Services
Sara Radoff
Director, Services for Transfer, Re-entry and Resilient Scholars
Elizabeth Fileto
Director, Business and Financial Services