Leadership Team

Paz Maya Olivérez, Ph.D.
Vice President for Student Affairs
Email: Paz.Oliverez@csusb.edu
 
Dr. Paz Maya Olivérez is Vice President for Student Affairs at CSUSB. She assumed her vice presidency in August 2019. In this role, she leads a team of more than 300 staff and nearly 1,300 paraprofessionals in programs that support students. An accomplished administrator and educator, Dr. Olivérez brings a wealth of higher education and CSU experience to CSUSB. Dr. Olivérez served as interim vice president for student affairs as well as senior associate vice president and dean of students at California State Stanislaus. Prior to that, she spent eight years at California State University, Dominguez Hills, where she held several administrative positions including associate vice president for student success. She holds a doctorate in educational policy from the University of Southern California, a master’s degree in counseling from California State University, Long Beach, and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Daria-Yvonne Jackson Graham, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students 
Email: Daria.Graham@csusb.edu

Dr. Daria-Yvonne Jackson Graham is the associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students at California State University, San Bernardino. She has intentionally spent her career designing, implementing, and assessing student development programs from a socially-just perspective while working with campus crisis, strategic planning and assessment, leadership development, and campus-wide initiatives regarding diversity, social justice, and the co-curricular experience. As a result, she has worked collaboratively to better provide faculty, staff, and students resources to assist in creating an atmosphere for engaged learning. She has also taught courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels in the areas of leadership, intergroup dialogue, social justice, music, and sociology.

Molly Springer, Ed.D. 
Associate Vice President of Student Success and Educational Equity
Email: Molly.Springer@csusb.edu 

Dr. Molly Springer (Cherokee/ Osage; pronouns: she/her/hers) has worked in higher education for 20 years and her focus, throughout her career, has been on developing programs and initiatives which attend to the needs of disproportionally impacted students. Currently, Dr. Springer serves at the Associate Vice President of Educational Equity and Student Success at California State University, San Bernardino. Dr. Springer’s research has focused on Native American students both in K-12 and higher education, is a published author (Beyond the Asterisk: Understanding Native Students in Higher Education (book), “From Boarding Schools to Suspension Boards” (statewide CCEAL report), and a forthcoming chapter entitled, The Transformational Change Agent Equation: Reziliency of Native American Women in Leadership Roles in Higher Education, "Black and Brown Leadership and the Promotion of Change in an Era of Social Unrest." Dr. Springer has served as Dean of Equity and Student Success for Sacramento City College, the Director of Learning Communities at CSU Monterey Bay, as an Assistant Dean of Students/ Director of the Native American Program at Dartmouth College, the Assistant Director of Native Studies at the University of Illinois, and a research analyst for San Diego State University. Dr Springer has also served as the Chair for Native American Network at ACPA, a founding member of the National Coalition for the Advancement of Native Higher Education (NCANHE), and a founding member of the Sacramento Native American Higher Education Collaborative. Dr Springer was the first recipient of the Danielle Terrance Courage Award bestowed upon her by ACPA, and is the incoming Director of External Relations for ACPA (American College Personnel Association).

Lisa Root, M.A.
Associate Dean of Students and Director of Student Conduct & Ethical Development
Email: Lisa.Root@csusb.edu

Lisa Root joined the CSUSB community in May 2016 from California State University, Chico. In her current role, she provides leadership to the Office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development and the CARE Team.

Root earned her bachelor of arts degree in Liberal Studies at San Jose State University, where she served as a Residence Hall Director and launched her career in student affairs. She went on to obtain her master of arts degree in Education, Counseling & Guidance at California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo.

Root is the proud product of the California Master Plan, having studied or worked at four different campuses in the California State University system, as well as one UC campus. She is an advocate for student success and making a difference in the lives of the students we serve at CSUSB.

Beth Jaworski, Ph.D.
Director of Student Health Center
Email: Bjaworsk@csusb.edu

Dr. Beth Jaworski has worked at CSUSB since 2003 in various roles, including as a therapist in Counseling & Psychological Services, the Director of Services to Students with Disabilities, Assistant Vice President for Student Services, and in her current role as Director of the Student Health Center in the Division of Student Affairs. In addition, Dr. Jaworski serves on the CARE (Campus Assessment, Response & Education) Team. She is a clinical psychologist and holds her M.S. and Ph.D. from Syracuse University and B.A. from the University of California, Irvine. She is committed to student success, health and wellness, and social justice for all.

Jennifer Mersman, Ph.D.
Assessment and Research Officer
Email: Jennifer.Mersman@csusb.edu

Jennifer Mersman is the Assessment & Research Officer for the Division of Student Affairs at CSUSB. Her role is building assessment capability within Student Affairs and across university divisions to enhance continuous improvement. Jennifer leads the design of assessment methodologies for evidence-based planning, programmatic change, and organizational development. Jennifer is an alumna from CSUSB, receiving her M.S. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and earned her Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from Claremont Graduate University. 

Before coming to CSUSB, Jennifer worked in education management, weaving assessment and development into whole systems change. She has worked as an evaluation consultant over the last two decades, working with multiple stakeholder groups within the public, non-profit, and private sectors. She takes a systems level approach to her work, examining the interplay of factors at the organizational, group, and individual levels. Jennifer is skilled at taking big picture concepts and tackling them with a strong methodological background to inform practical, evidence-based solutions.