Dr. Martha Galvan Mandujano

Dr. Martha C. Galván Mandujano is from San Luis Potosí, Mexico.  Her father was a farm worker in California in the 1980s and later a railroad worker all over the UnitedStates. Dr. Galvan Mandujano’s mother worked in Tijuana, Mexico and later immigratedt o the United States to help her family financially. Dr. Galvan Mandujano’s parents and sisters are her role models and a driving force of inspiration. Her mother taught her the importance of education, to work hard to achieve your goals, learn from mistakes and never give up when encountering struggles. Also, her family, mentors and teachers instilled in her the passion of teaching, helping others in need, and giving back to the community.

As a new Commissioner in District 2, Dr. Galvan-Mandujano wants to help with projects assisting women and girls in SLO County. Also, creating partnerships and learning from other organizations to better assist our county’s needs on issues such as food insecurity, medical access, education, mental health, domestic violence, and many others. Furthermore, to teach others about resources already offered in our community in English, Spanish, and Indigenous languages.  
 
Dr. Galvan Mandujano is a First-Generation college graduate. She received a PhD in Spanish and a Graduate Certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies from the University of Oklahoma in 2015. She graduated from Texas A&M University-Commerce with a BA in Spanish and Computer Information. She obtained her MA in Spanish with a minor in Marketing in 2007, and she graduated with a MS in E-Commerce in 2002. She was President of Tierra Tinta from 2008-2010, organizing conferences to open a space to talk about literature, culture, and issues related to the Latinx community in the United States, Latin America and Spain.   She was the Graduate Student Representative of SEW (Society for Educating Women) from 2010-2011.
 
Dr. Galvan Mandujano worked as Instructor in the University of Oklahoma (OU). At OU, she taught all the Spanish for the Professions courses such as Medicine, Law,
Journalism, and Social Work. In these courses she had the opportunity to implement a Community Service-Learning component.  Students were introduced to cultural, demographical, educational and economic aspects of the Latinx/Hispanic population in the United States, and they worked directly helping at-risk Latinx children in this community.  Students collaborated with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO)’s such as Manos Juntas, a free clinic that treated mostly low-income Hispanic and Vietnamese patients, but also other low-income patients in Oklahoma City.  Dr. Galvan Mandujano was hired by California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) to create similar programs or courses at Cal Poly, encouraging students to research and create future projects that could help members of the community or county.

 
She has been teaching in Cal Poly since 2018, in 2024 she was promoted to Associated Professor of Spanish. Some of the courses she has taught are Medical and Spanish Journalism for the Professions and Mexican Cultures, where she encourages students to participate in service-learning projects to help the Latinx community in SLO county, but also educating others presenting projects on topics related to domestic violence, education, metal health, nutrition, sexual education, etc.  

 
Her research focuses on public memorialization in coordination with civil society
organizations in Guatemala and the role of social media in the memorialization process, but also the role of women or grassroot organizations helping survivors of the Guatemala Internal Armed Conflict.