Summer & Academic Year

Courtney Santos oversees the Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experiences (UCARE) and First Year Research Experience (FYRE) programs; coordinates undergraduate advising and campus endorsement for national and international fellowship competitions; and represented Undergraduate Education and Student Success as a 2021-24 Promoting At-Promise Student Success (PASS) Fellow.

You can call me: 
Courtney (she/her)

My academic or professional journey: 
I began my journey as a first-generation, low-income, transfer student, earning an A.A. in Social & Behavioral Sciences at Moreno Valley College;  a B.A. in English at the University of California, Irvine; and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing & Writing for the Performing Arts at the University of California, Riverside. I also completed a certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language. I have fifteen years of previous service at the University of California, Irvine, in research, fellowships, and writing center environments. As of Fall 2024, I am also a master’s student in Counseling Psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Where I call home: 
Southern California, near Disneyland. Reminders of home include the smell of oranges or strawberries, the sight of pine or palm trees, and the pain of freeway traffic!  

My favorite hobby: 
I have many hobbies, so it is hard to choose. I love spending time in nature, hiking, camping, or observing animals and weather. I also love writing, drawing, watercolor, and pastel painting. With my friends, I love playing games – Dungeons & Dragons, Magic the Gathering, board games, Nintendo Switch games.  

A person/place/thing/idea that has had great influence on my life: 
I experienced challenges and self-doubt when navigating my first experiences in college. An English and Creative Writing instructor at community college, Mr. Edwards, helped me understand my goals to transfer to a university and mentored me in my first job there, as a Writing Center tutor. His expression of positive beliefs about me as a scholar and a person was transformative. I am very thankful that he was there for me at just the right moment.