New School Alumnus Ventures Back West, This Time as Interim University President
Eduardo Ochoa, interim president, California State-Monterey Bay
If anyone is familiar with coast-to-coast moves, it’s New School for Social Research alumnus Eduardo Ochoa. From Portland to New York, Los Angeles to Washington to Monterey, Ochoa has been bouncing back and forth for the past 40 years. Ochoa logged another journey just recently, when he packed his bags as assistant secretary for postsecondary education at the Department of Education (DOE) in Washington DC and headed west to California State University at Monterey Bay to act as the interim president.
In his new position, Ochoa plans to continue expanding upon the university’s ideals of diversity, community, and sustainability. “I am honored and excited to return to the California State University, and to have been selected to lead the Monterey Bay campus,” said Dr. Ochoa. “I look forward to working together with faculty, students and staff as we build on the university’s excellent accomplishments and reputation.”
At the DOE, Ochoa was chief advisor for issues pertaining to higher education and administered financial assistance programs totaling nearly $3 billion annually. Prior to his term in Washington, he was back west serving as provost and vice president of Sonoma State University. Ocha has also held teaching positions at Fresno State College and California State University at Los Angeles, (professor and chair of economics and statistics, respectively) and served as dean of Cal Poly Pomona’s College of Business.
Ochoa, who immigrated to the U.S. with his family from Argentina in the 1960’s, earned his bachelor’s degree at Reed College. He received as master’s degree from Columbia University in nuclear science and engineering, a PhD in economics from The New School. While at The New School, he won the Edith Hansen dissertation award for his research on production process and labor values during post-war periods.