Since the completion of her doctorate in 1975 at the University of Florida, Dr. Bernice Bass de Martinez has worked in many capacities in the field of education. Including her years at California State University in Sacramento, she has served more than 15 years in various administrativeroles in higher education (department chair, academic dean, associate provost, and vice president for academic affairs as well as special assistant to the president) and more than 15 years as a faculty member plus time in International Affairs (having served projects in Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean) as well as work in the New Mexico State and US government civil service. Her experiences also include association service (Senior Fellow at the Association of American Colleges and Universities and Interim President and CEO for Leadership America, both in the Washington, DC area). In addition to instruction, she has been engaged with policy development, refinement, and implementation staff development, selection, and evaluation consensus building assessment and evaluation and resource management.
Her passions include a strong commitment building bridges of collaboration and cooperation; a belief that quality education can be delivered in an equitable way and a commitment to supporting the development and upward mobility of the disenfranchised with particular emphasis on women and persons of color. These passions have influenced her instruction, research and life. Examples include service as a pre-K through 12 bilingual classroom teacher, building of multiple international partnerships, and engagement in the development of WoCRC (Women of Color Research Collaborative, a multi-campus research collective of women founded in 2003).
In terms of community service, she has served on the Board of Leadership America (2006 Board Chair); the American Council on Education's Office of Women in Higher Education Network Executive Board; on the Educational Policy Committee of the National Foundation for Women Legislators; and the Education Advisory Board of the Euro-American Women's Council. Additionally, she chair's the Foundation Board for William V. S. Tubman College located in Harper, Liberia. She is an active member of the Xi Gamma Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated (the oldest African American Sorority in the United States with a commitment for service to all mankind).
A frequent speaker at regional and national events, she has a long list of publications and presentations, including Perspectives in Multicultural Education edited with William Sims that remains in demand after many years.
EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT and MANAGEMENT TRAINING
Association of Community College Trustees Leadership Academy, 2006
ACE Sponsored Programs: ACE Office of Minorities in Higher Education (CAREE) and Office of Women in Higher Education, Summit for Women of Color, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2008
The National Leadership Forum: Advancing Women’s Leadership: Styles, Strategies, and Tools, 2001
Leadership Forum for the Advancement of Minorities in Higher Education, 1994
National Identification Program for the Advancement of Women in Higher Education Administration, 1990
Millennium Leadership Initiative sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, 1999
Harvard Management Development Program, Summer 1986
