It is with great excitement that I write to share the appointment of the next Associate Dean/Honors Director, Dr. Begona Echeverria.  Dr. Echeverria is a long time Professor in UCR’s School of Education and has served in various leadership roles over the last 20+ years.  Dr. Echeverria’s academic work addresses the sociology of language and education, language and gender, language and identity, historical sociolinguistics, Basque Country, endangered and minority language, and ethnographic and historical methods. 

The feedback from our campus community was enthusiastic about her candidacy and noted her commitment to building bridges across the disciplines, bringing innovative ideas to programmatic and faculty engagement in University Honors, and strengthening community across the program, Division of Undergraduate Education, and campus.  

As part of her role, Dr. Echeverria will also join the UE Senior Leadership and VPDUE Cabinet and will bring her experience and ideas to elevate UE’s campus wide efforts to meet our strategic goals including boosting graduating and reducing equity gaps, among others.  

I would like to thank the search committee for their service:  

Raquel Rall, Associate Dean and Faculty in the School of Education (Chair)

Jane Kim, Assistant Director, University Honors

Richard Edwards, Executive Director, XCITE

Nigel Hughes, Faculty, Earth and Planetary Sciences

Annika Spear, Faculty, Theatre, Film, and Digital Production

Rayyan Ayoub, Honors Student

Jaelen Fields, Honors Student

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Echeverria in securing this important leadership role in the Division of Undergraduate Education.