Volume 4| March, 2022
Spring 2022: Cohort 3 Application Opens Next Month!
Thank you for tuning in for our Vol 4 of our Newsletter! We are gearing up to launch the recruitment process for the next cohort. The application will open up April 4th and it will remain open until April 20th. Stay tuned for more details on the application!
Application Requirements
For program consideration, applicants must submit the following documents as part of their online application:

  1. A letter of interest specifying why you are interested in teaching students at Bakersfield College. The letter should also discuss how your educational experiences have prepared them to teach at a community college with a diverse student body, like Bakersfield College.
  2. An updated curriculum vitae with at least three professional references with contact information listed. One of the references needs to be from a current or former supervisor.
  3. College/university transcript (unofficial transcripts will be accepted), including all college units attempted.
  4. One signed letter of recommendation written within the last six months specifically for the Bakersfield College Faculty Diversification Fellowship Program from an individual who has provided post-secondary academic instruction to the applicant.
Applicant Eligibility
  1. Candidates should be legally authorized to work in the USA;
  2. Candidates must be enrolled in the last semester of a qualified STEM graduate program, be a recent graduate of the program, a Ph.D. candidate pursuing a STEM path, or have attained postdoctoral standing in a qualified STEM field;
  3. Candidates considered for this fellowship should not have had any college teaching experience beyond graduate teaching assistant positions within their programs.
Program Tiers
Tier I
  1. Assigned a Faculty Mentor from their discipline
  2. Engages with their mentor 4 hours/week-2 in class and 2 out of class
  3. Enrollment in the EDUC B15NC course

Tier II

  1. Course shadowing, in their discipline, 2 times in the fall term
  2. Attend two campus-wide committees as a guest
  3. Enrollment in EDUC B15NC course
Highlight Corner
Meet Dr. Ximena Tavares De La Silva
Dr. Ximena Da Silva Tavares is a Professor of Chemistry at Bakersfield College (2015 – present). She was born in Argentina and grew up in Uruguay. She moved to the US in 2004 to pursue a better education proceeding to earn an A.A. degree in Chemistry from Miami Dade College in 2006 followed by a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Florida Atlantic University in 2008 and finally, a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 2015. Her doctorate dissertation involved studying the mechanism of nicotine addiction by exploring the underlying chemical interactions in the binding of nicotine, and other small molecules, to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.

While at Caltech, she acted as a mentor to undergraduate female students as part of the Women Mentoring Women program from 2010 to 2014. She has a strong interest in assisting students facing challenges in achieving their educational goals, especially women in STEM, underrepresented minorities, and international students. Outside the Chemistry classroom, Professor Da Silva enjoys competing in Showjumping (equestrian stadium jumping) along with her husband and children, reading fantasy books, nail art, and going camping/hiking with her family. She believes that work/life balance is an important, and often neglected, aspect of a meaningful/fulfilling life.

Dr. Ximena Da Silva Tavares has served as a Faculty Mentor since the program welcomed its first cohort in the fall of 2020.
Institutional Partners
In the News
Program Coordinators
Dr. Bill Moseley| Dean of Instruction
Dr. Stephen Waller| Dean of Instruction
Dr. Maria Wright| Lead Faculty
For more information on the program, please contact Dr. Maria Wright at maria.wright2@bakersfieldcollege.edu