Lupe Gallegos Diaz (she/her)
Lupe Gallegos-Diaz, is currently the Director of the Chicanx Latinx Student Development and Co-Founder/Director of the Latinx and the Environment campus program at UCB. She teaches as a Lecturer in the Chicano Studies Program/Ethnic Studies Department and the School of Social Work at the University of California, Berkeley. Her teaching areas include – Chicanx Latinx culture and identities; student and leadership development; community engagement, environmental justice issues and culturally relevant fundraising. Throughout her academic pursuits, she has been committed to mentoring and advocating for issues that address inequalities in education and the environment for the Chicanx Latinx and communities of color.
Mrs. Gallegos-Diaz has and continues to serve in various leadership and advisory roles for a number of national and local organizations such as – National advisor of the Mexican government in higher education; past Chair, of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies; and current national administrative coordinator for Mujeres Activas en Letras Y Cambio Social (MALCS) a Chicana Latinx and Indigenous academic and professional organization. Statewide she is currently the Co-Chair for the 10 UC campuses of the UC Chicano Latino Alumni Association (UC CLAA) and treasurer of the Environmental Coalition for Water Justice. In the bay area Mrs. Gallegos-Diaz currently serves as the President for the Chicana Latina Foundation and Co-Chairs the Latinos Unidos de Berkeley.
Mrs. Gallegos-Diaz has a Bachelor’s of Science in Sociology from Santa Clara University; Master from the University of California, Berkeley in the School of Social Welfare; Certificate of Fundraising from the University of San Francisco and a Certificate of Philosophy in Ethnic Studies PhD department from University of California, Berkeley.
Federico Castillo (he/him)
Federico Castillo is an Environmental/Agricultural Economist with graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a Project Scientist at the College of Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley. He is also a lecturer in the Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California at Berkeley. His research interests center on the socio-economic impacts of climate change, particularly as it relates to the agricultural sector.
Dr. Castillo currently serves as Deputy Director for the University of California Planetary Health Center of Expertise and is co-lead of the Latinx and the Environment Program at UC Berkeley. He has over 25 years’ experience teaching both at Higher Education Institutions and designing short courses for the public, non-profit and private sectors in areas related to sustainable business practices, technology adoption and innovation, field work methods, protected areas, and biodiversity related issues.
Dr. Castillo is currently involved in multidisciplinary research activities with scholars from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), The Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL), the University of California at Santa Cruz, and the University of California Davis among others. He enjoys teaching, working with, and mentoring students.
Staff
Alexandra Acevedo Grave (she/her/ella)
I received my Bachelors of Arts in Environmental Science from UC Berkeley in May 2021. I currently work with LEI as the Program Coordinator, providing support for both faculty and student run projects. The Latinxs and the Environment Initiative, under the umbrella of the Chicanx Latinx Development Center, strives to increase and sustain undergraduate and graduate Latinx students involved in environmental studies.