Denise Pacheco, M.A. ’04, Ph.D. ’11

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Denise Pacheco, M.A. ’04, Ph.D. ’11 (she / ella / they) began as senior director for Diversity Programs and Initiatives (DPI) at the UCLA Alumni Association in September 2022. Diversity Programs fosters meaningful connections among Bruins of diverse experiences across generations to support a strong and inclusive UCLA community. We sat down to discuss Pacheco’s new role, her goals, expectations and the previous important roles she has played on campus.

What is your professional background?

I am a proud double Bruin with a master’s degree in social science and comparative education with an emphasis in ethnic studies, and a Ph.D. in urban schooling. After completing my doctorate, I worked in student affairs at UCLA for 10 years before taking on this role. While in student affairs, one of my greatest accomplishments was leading the team that reimagined the Chancellor’s new student welcome and created what was called This is Bruin Life. I most recently worked as an associate dean of students in the Dean of Students Office and the Office of Student Conduct before coming to the Alumni Association.

Is student affairs the type of work you always wanted to do or was there something else you were first interested in doing?

As an undergraduate student, I was a McNair Scholar and was very involved in student organizing and campus climate work. I am always balancing these aspects of scholarship, research and practice. I maintain this commitment to equity and social justice, both as a scholar and practitioner, to serve youth, families and communities that historically had been denied access to institutions like UCLA. This is a core passion that I strive to maintain regardless of where I am working. I am excited to now explore this in service to our Bruin alumni.

What attracted you to work for the Alumni Association and this job in particular?

I saw this as a really good opportunity to keep expanding my experience and to better understand how the institution serves the Bruin community more broadly. I’ve had experience as a faculty member and as a student at UCLA and was very interested in learning more about how UCLA interacts with alumni; how it builds and fosters those relationships. As an alumna, I find it interesting, both personally and professionally, to think about how we bring more alumni into an active relationship with UCLA for a lifetime. I also see this as another place to serve all Bruins and support the conversations and practices that ensure that more diverse voices and experiences are highlighted and celebrated.

What do you think is the most important aspect of your position as the senior director of diversity programs and initiatives?

All of us at the Alumni Association are committed to building community, so I don’t think my role is exclusive in that way. However, I think that oftentimes we may have in our mind an idea of what a "typical" Bruin is, and in that definition, we may inadvertently erase people with experiences and identities that diverge from that image. It’s important to tap into our desire to serve everyone and to identify ways to widen that definition, to break it apart so that there isn’t actually one "typical" Bruin we hold in our minds, but rather, hundreds and hundreds of images of what it actually means to be Bruin alumni. I think the DPI team and the networks we serve play important roles in that process. I also recognize and honor that many of the DPI alumni networks were created out of a desire to transform UCLA and to ensure that future generations of students did not face some of the same challenges and hardships that previous generations encountered. We strive to provide opportunities for alumni to create new relationships with UCLA and contribute to important ongoing conversations about how to make UCLA better.

What have you learned in the short time that you’ve been here?

Our alumni leaders bring a lot of passion to this work. They’re in many different places personally and professionally, and it’s really exciting to see their energy and commitment. We must keep finding ways to harness that passion and also explore ways to give back to them. I am also very curious and excited to think about how we can collaborate and leverage the resources of UCLA to create new ways to build and foster a sense of community.

Where do you see diversity programs and initiatives going in the next couple of years?

Community building is really at the core of where I’m at and what I’m thinking about. Many of the alumni we support through DPI are leading and working in multiple spaces and they are stretched thin. There is a need to cultivate spaces of rejuvenation, spaces of joy, spaces of rest. I am interested in maintaining these principles as we think about how DPI can reimagine the core signature programming that we have always offered. Given the lessons we’ve learned in the pandemic, I’m also considering how can we deepen and expand opportunities for people to connect and engage with one another, especially those who may not be aware of all of the opportunities that exist within the Association. There are some ideas we have percolating. Stay tuned for more to come!

What have you learned from your networks and alumni volunteers so far?

Our network leaders and volunteers are doing a lot to lead in many different places. I believe the impetus to create an alumni network that is identity-based usually comes from a sense of urgency or a passion to address systemic inequities. I think to varying degrees our volunteers are wrestling with these questions and issues, and thinking of different ways to address them. Some alumni are really intent on creating as many student scholarships as possible. Others are thinking about ways to support our current students while also honoring that this is their time to lead. Our role is to find ways to support and expand their work by connecting them with the vast resources they have in the Alumni Association, the University as a whole and even in collaborating with one another.

Our volunteers have rich and extensive skills, talents and gifts. I think there are ways for us to uplift and amplify those talents and gifts and bring them to the forefront through co-programming and social media. It’s important that we make their contributions more widely known, beyond their local network and to a wider audience. Strategically, using marketing tools can also be another way to bring more alumni, who aren’t currently engaged, back into relationship with UCLA. If alumni see programs and services that match what they’re looking for, we can start to build a deeper connection with them.

What do you want alumni to know about the work that you do and why it’s important?

I want our alumni to know that we’re committed to honoring the history and legacy of our identity-based networks. We are here to continue to support and elevate the work and vision they have and to help them to find pathways for building, connecting and doing the work in a community that feels truly supportive in facilitating their vision. In DPI we are also seeking to reemerge and develop content that is going to keep pushing larger conversations around challenging social issues in a way that can be generative and uplifting as well as sobering and critical. I look forward to exploring new and creative ways to do this in partnership with all of our stakeholders.

What do you want alumni to know about your vision for DPI?

The world and the country continue to be in such a state of reckoning. Many of us feel that we are constantly responding to one crisis after another while also witnessing and experiencing the fracturing of community, the inability for people to come together and discuss critical issues across lines of deep disagreement. In this moment, the work of community building matters more than ever, regardless of where we sit in Alumni Affairs.

Our team is committed to thoughtful, generative community building and there is a lot of experience and skill in our team to do that. I think there are opportunities for us to reimagine and reenvision our programming to uplift the voices of our alumni. Their stories can help us to get at the nuances and tensions of this work, and to hopefully draw more people in to connect further with one another in new ways. I’m excited for where we can go.

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For questions or to learn more about the Diversity Programs & Initiatives team at Alumni Affairs, contact diversity@alumni.ucla.edu.