SF State has named Dr. Kenneth P. Monteiro as the new dean of the College of Ethnic Studies. He brings with him nearly two decades of experience and leadership in areas of diversity and civil rights.

Monteiro, who served as acting dean of the college since 2004, has been an SF State faculty member since 1987 and has held a variety of positions throughout his career at SF State.

In his newly appointed position, Monteiro intends to recommit the College of Ethnic Studies to its fundamental values and principles, while expanding and reinventing the ways it expresses them.

“The college remains committed to social justice for and the liberation of people of color — those
referred to in 1968 as ‘third world,’” Monteiro said.

As the College of Ethnic Studies approaches its 40th anniversary in 2008, Monteiro wants to include more courses in Arab American Studies, classes that focus on the diversity within the traditionally represented ethnic groups, such homosexuals and feminists of color, as well as those of mixed race
or creole heritage.

“My own teaching, research, and personal histories are anchored in the civil rights struggles that created the College of Ethnic Studies, and also span some of the areas of diversification of scholarship,” he said.

A second-generation American, Monteiro’s grandparents emigrated in the early 1900s from the Cape Verde Islands. He attended public high school and then Dartmouth College and Stanford University, on scholarship, where he earned his Ph.D. He applies cognitive psychology to the social and cultural context and has conducted research on literacy and health coping with HIV/AIDS in the African American community.

Monteiro arrived at SF State in 1987 as an Associate Professor of psychology and in 1994, he became chair of the psychology department.

In 1998, Monteiro took on the role of university dean of human Relations, a position that has since been phased out. He said he was very proud of its accomplishments and was disappointed with the office’s closure due to university cutbacks.

“Dr. Monteiro has a lot of the historical and cultural understanding that I believe is necessary to help lead Ethnic Studies into a new era,” Ethnic Studies lecturer Matthew Shenoda said.