Meet The Team

Sally Heath
MESA Director

Sally attended six California community colleges before earning her A.A. in Liberal Studies and transferring to California State University, Fullerton where she graduated with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Human Services. Realizing her passion was working in higher education serving college students, she went on to receive her M.A. in Counseling, Student Development in Higher Education (SDHE) from California State University, Long Beach.

Sally has worked with STEM students for the entirety of her higher education career: developing, implementing, and evaluating grant-funded programs that aim to build student equity, especially among underrepresented groups in STEM, in both community colleges and four-year institutions. She was a STEM Retention Specialist/Program Coordinator and Adjunct MESA Counselor at Cañada College from 2015-2019. Some highlights of that role included coordinating a National Science Foundation scholarship program which funded an average of 40 students per year, running a peer mentor program supporting over 100 students per semester, implementing a week-long conference-style summer bridge program for incoming first-year STEM students, and starting a student-led Women in STEM community on campus which hosted professional panels including speakers from Google and Stanford University.

Sally was a Graduation Specialist Advisor at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (COE). There she collaborated with COE faculty, administrators, and staff to identify and resolve practices and procedures needing improvement centering in improving native four-year and transfer two-year graduation rates. She collaborated on the development of an NIH BUILD mentor program; Consulted on administering components of a Center for Inclusive Computing grant from Northeastern University; Taught HSI STEM grant-funded sections of an Academic Success Skills course for engineering students; and quadrupled retention and graduation rates among COE Beach Pledge (CA Promise) students from the 2017 to 2019 cohort.

Since 2020, Sally has been a Program Evaluation Associate for over 20 STEM-related grant-funded programs at over a dozen community colleges and universities in California.

Sally started at GWC in Fall 2022 as a STEM Counselor and worked under the Title V STEM grant from Spring 2023 through Fall 2023. She fell in love with the student population, her co-workers, and the campus, and jumped at the opportunity to become the MESA Director, to build and run this new STEM program at GWC. She has been developing the MESA program since November 2023.

Sally specializes in teaching time management, organizational skills and life skills, and finds joy in creating connections between people, groups and departments, and in bringing communities together. You can find her off campus reading, kayaking, volunteering for beach clean-ups and habitat restoration, and spending time with family. If she had a superpower, it would be Healing.

Cristina Marin
MESA Counselor

Cristina Marin (she/her), is a proud first generation, Latinx student and now counseling professional. She received her B.A in Psychology and Social Behavior, and Educational Sciences from the University of California, Irvine in 2018. She then went on to get her M.S. degree in Counseling with and emphasis in Student Development in Higher Education from California State University, Long Beach in 2023. Her own personal experiences navigating college as a first-generation, low-income student is what inspired her to work with MESA students at Golden West College. Her goal is to ensure that her students have all the resources and knowledge that she wishes she had when she was in school so that they can reach their higher educational and career goals.

Her experiences as peer academic advisor at UCI, college adviser at Compton Early College High School, Program Coordinator at USC, and EOPS/NextUp Adjunct Counselor at LA Harbor College have given her a wide range of experience supporting students with intersecting identities - such as being a minority, first generation, low-income, undocumented, former foster youth, and/or working parent. She is passionate about student success and creating a sense of community on campus for her students.

In her free time, you can find her reading, salsa dancing, and eating Korean BBQ with friends.

Gerardo Lopez
MESA Counselor

Gerardo is a passionate and dedicated professional with extensive experience in STEM counseling and advising at the CSU and Community College systems. With an Associate of Arts degree in General Studies - Social and Behavioral Sciences from El Camino College, Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from UCLA, and a Master of Science degree in Counseling, Student Development in Higher Education (SDHE) from CSULB, Gerardo has honed his skills in providing guidance and support to students from diverse backgrounds.

Gerardo began his career in higher education as a student worker in 2012 working at El Camino’s Career and Transfer Center until 2014. From 2015-2016, he worked as a Peer Academic Counselor Coordinator for the Community Programs Office (CPO) at UCLA serving primarily Latinx/Chicanx students. In 2017, he landed a full-time position as an Academic Advisor at Cal State LA in the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology (ECST) working in various capacities; transfer advisor with incoming transfer students, advising the First Year Experience Program at ECST (FYrE) learning community cohort, and served as liaison for various departments – Veterans Resources Center (VRC), Technology and Computer Science. From 2022-2023, he also worked at East Los Angeles College’s (ELAC) MESA Center as a STEM coach providing transfer seeking STEM students with resources and services to help them choose and plan immediate and long-range educational goals. Gerardo's dedication to empowering students has been evident throughout his career and he is committed to continue providing equity-minded and culturally responsive approaches to the students at Golden West College.

Outside of his professional endeavors, Gerardo enjoys Latin dance, working out, exploring nature, and eating yummy food. He is excited about the opportunity to contribute his skills and expertise to the MESA program at GWC and make a positive impact on the lives of students.