By Walter Ryce

By now many people close to CSUMB know some of the backstory of President Vanya Quiñones, the university’s new leader.

She is a neurobiologist, biopsychologist, and noted researcher who formerly held positions as professor and department chair at City University of New York (CUNY) - Hunter College, and then as provost at Pace University. 

She grew up in Puerto Rico and pursued the arts before finding her way to science, making a mission of carving space for minority students to ascend to the positions that she often inhabited alone. 

Since she came to campus in August 2022, another part of the picture that is becoming apparent is that Quiñones — or as she prefers to be called, Vanya — prizes accessibility. 

Whether it’s a donor reception at CSUMB’s Alumni and Visitor’s Center, or a Halloween house party for the neighborhood; the Werk Witch drag show at the Otter Student Union, or a panel of regional university and college presidents at University Center. 

She has been visible, present and accessible to many people and events as a way of understanding this place and the university, and her role in it. 

Read the full story in Monterey Bay magazine