Ashley Tejada is a current student at San Diego State University and will be graduating with a Master of Arts in Postsecondary Educational Leadership in May of 2023. She also earned her Bachelor of Arts at SDSU with English and Leadership being the focus in her degree.
Ashley is from Corona, California and takes pride in her long-standing advocacy throughout San Diego and Riverside County. She is incredibly passionate about elevating historically marginalized student voices, the growing priority of basic need support, and combating the stigma around mental health. Ashley’s achievements in the educational space have consisted of initiatives focusing on minimizing equity gaps, bettering campus community relations, advocating for students with varying abilities, beginning campus safety initiatives, and serving on the Associated Students Board of Directors.
As the 2021-2022 SDSU Associated Students President, and 2022-2023 Graduate Student Association President, Tejada prioritized campus collaboration, redefining a holistic university experience, and utilizing her identity as a Latinx woman to further serve SDSU as a Hispanic-Serving Institution. As one of the few students in administration and faculty-populated spaces, Tejada has been a large catalyst in SDSU’s COVID-19 re-entry process and has grown her leadership and philanthropic momentum through community-wide conversation and policy surrounding student adversity.
Serving as one of the few student voting members of the Campanile Foundation, Aztec Shops Board of Directors, Campus Fee Advisory Committee, Campus Safety Committee Chair, Presidential Budget Advisory Committee, University Senate, and food insecurity initiative, Ashley has developed wide range lenses related to inequities in higher education access. She is driven by the potential for positive change, small or large, and an ongoing desire to see constant betterment and hope for a student-centered institutional direction statewide.
M.A. Educational Leadership; B.A. English and Leadership (San Diego State University)
Your role in one sentence:
A large element to this role is supporting the Public Affairs and Policy Teams by researching and synthesizing regional data to present during the 2023 Listening Tour, and meeting with key stakeholders across the state in efforts of capturing key themes.
When I am not at work helping students get to and succeed in college, I am…
Attending San Diego Wave FC soccer games as a passionate National Women’s Soccer League fan and developing my pickleball skills.
If not higher education, then what cause?
Leadership-centered initiatives and community empowerment