Long Beach State educator to lead new college

Britt Rios-Ellis, a professor of health sciences at Long Beach State and director of the National Council of La Raza/CSULB Center for Latino Community Health, Evaluation and Leadership Training, has been named the founding dean of Cal State Monterey Bay's College of Health Sciences and Human Services.

Dr. Rios-Ellis begins her new duties on Aug. 20.

“The right leadership can make all the difference in launching a new college. In Dr. Rios-Ellis, we have been able to attract a proven academic leader who is a recognized authority in community health issues, especially as they relate to underserved Latino populations,” said Eduardo Ochoa, president of CSUMB.

“We think she will be an outstanding fit for our university and for our community.”

As part of the academic reorganization of the university that went into effect on July 1, the College of Health Sciences and Human Services and the College of Education were created from programs that were previously housed in the College of Professional Studies. “I am deeply honored to serve as founding Dean of the College of Health Sciences and Human Services at California State University Monterey Bay. I am very excited about working with the excellent administration, faculty, staff, students, and community as we build the new college,” said Dr. Rios-Ellis.

“I am committed to working collectively with our outstanding faculty to provide students with the highest level of training as we develop culturally relevant ways to address the prominent health disparities in our region and build a strong reputation on the wealth of expertise we have to offer.”

For the past 20 years, she has served as a professor at California State University Long Beach and is also director of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR)/CSULB Center for Latino Community Health, Evaluation, and Leadership Training and the newly inaugurated Centro Salud es Cultura located in downtown Long Beach. Since founding the Center in 2005, Dr. Rios-Ellis spearheaded over $50 million in funded student- and community-strengthening research projects and has been the Co-Principal Investigator on two grants from the U.S. Department of Education to transform CSULB into a Hispanic Serving Institution. This summer she served as a delegate for the U.S. State Department’s People to People Initiative in Beijing and for the NIH Office of AIDS Research Hispanic Advisory Group at the International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia. Currently she is collaborating with the Fundación Haciendas del Mundo Maya in conducting health-related needs assessments of remote Maya communities in the Yucatan with a focus on obesity and diabetes. In 2013, Dr. Rios-Ellis was awarded the highest honor at CSULB: Outstanding Professor. She has appeared on regional and national Spanish and English-language television and radio for Telemundo, Univision, CNN, and ABC World News Tonight. She holds Bachelors of Arts degrees in Spanish and Political Science, a Master’s of Science in Health and Fitness Management, a certificate in Women’s Studies, and a Doctorate in Community Health from the University of Oregon.