Santa Clara University

Chavez comes to Santa Clara from California State University, Bakersfield, where she was Professor of Special Education and served as director of the Office of Research & Sponsored Programs and interim dean for the Division of Graduate Studies and Research. Prior to her appointment at CSUB, Chavez was Professor of Special Education at California State University, Fresno, where she held a number of leadership positions during more than 25 years on the faculty.

The recipient of a number of awards for excellence in teaching and for leadership, Chavez has a strong, demonstrated commitment to diversity issues in education. She is a successful grant writer and administrator with experience in developing new teacher-training programs, coordinating accreditation processes, and collaborating with school districts.

Chavez received her Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. in Special Education, with emphases in psychology, diagnosis, and research, from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. She will join the campus community in early June.

Many members of the Santa Clara community already know Fr. Tom Powers through his outstanding service as Director of the Pastoral Ministries Program and as a member of the California Province of the Society of Jesus. He completed his doctorate in sacred theology in systematic theology at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. His research has taken him to Peru and Spain, where he has investigated the theological work being done by women in those countries. The State University of New York Press published his book, The Call of God: Women Doing Theology in Peru, in 2003.

Powers was the founding director of The Center for Ignatian Spirituality at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He taught theology there as well as at the University of San Francisco and JSTB. His courses have focused on Latin American and feminist theology, spirituality, and ecclesiology.