Magdalena L. Barrera

Senior Vice Provost and Accreditation Liaison Officer

Phone: 408-924-2405
Email: magdalena.barrera@sjsu.edu

Biography

Dr. Magdalena L. Barrera serves as Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Accreditation Liaison Officer at San José State University. In this role, she provides strategic leadership across core academic functions, including Faculty Success, Institutional Effectiveness and Accreditation, Institutional Research and Strategic Analytics, Graduate Studies, Undergraduate Education, and Undergraduate Advising and Success. She also directs SJSU’s Accessible Technology Initiative and Hispanic-Serving Institution activities.

Dr. Barrera’s approach to leadership emphasizes collaboration and cariño, with a focus on strengthening academic culture by aligning people, processes, and purpose. From 2020 to 2025, she served as Vice Provost for Faculty Success, reshaping faculty recruitment, onboarding, evaluation, and professional development at SJSU. Prior to joining the Office of the Provost in 2020, she was professor and department chair of Chicana and Chicano Studies, teaching Chicana/o history, literature, film, comparative Ethnic Studies, public speaking, and more. She also served as the inaugural Director of the Ethnic Studies Collaborative in the College of Social Sciences and Faculty-in-Residence in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Currently, Dr. Barrera’s research focuses on higher education processes and navigational strategies. Her publications have appeared in a wide range of journals, edited collections, and higher education news outlets. She is the co-author of The Latinx Guide to Graduate School (Duke University Press, 2023), which provides marginalized students with a roadmap for surviving and thriving in master’s and doctoral degree programs.

Dr. Barrera holds a B.A. in English literature and Latin American Studies from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University. She is honored to have been a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow (1996-97) and an Institute for Citizens and Scholars Career Enhancement Fellow (2011-2012).