A selection committee of the University of California Board of Regents has nominated Maria C. Ledesma, a UC Berkeley alumna and UCLA graduate student, as student regent for 2006-07.

The full board will consider the committee's recommendation at its July 20-21 meeting. If approved, Ledesma becomes the 32nd student regent since the position was established in 1975.

Ledesma would then serve as the student regent-designate for the coming year and be able to participate in all deliberations, but not vote until July 2006 when her one-year term would begin.

"My goals as a student regent include working towards issues of access and equity, including championing comprehensive review, and understanding how current admission indicators affect students across racial and socio-economic lines," said Ledesma, a first-generation college student and UC's first Chicana student regent.

An Oakland native, Ledesma received a master's degree in education from Harvard University and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, with her research focusing on the admission of students of color into selective public institutions. As a research assistant, she also conducted work on understanding how participation in enrichment programs such as gifted and talented education programs and honors and advanced placement courses help direct students into divergent college preparatory tracks.

In addition to working as an outreach coordinator for Berkeley's Early Academic Outreach Program, Ledesma also served as an undergraduate admissions reader. Most recently, she served as the graduate student representative on the UC faculty's Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools.

The student regent for 2005-06 is Adam Rosenthal, a UC Davis law student.

The nominating committee included regents Monica Lozano, Jodi Anderson, Gary Novack, Mark Ornellas, Norm Pattiz and Tom Sayles.

The regents' policy on the appointment of the student regent is available at:

www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/policies/6010.html

This year, 79 students applied for the position. The regents' committee interviewed three finalists, whose names were submitted by the UC Students Association after its review of the top candidates from the UC campuses.

Ledesma may be contacted at (510) 967-8642.

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