Jesús Maldonado currently serves as the Upward Bound Director at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. Jesus brings over 20 years of experience in college access programs. Jesus graduated from Occidental with a bachelor's degree in History. He received his Master of Science degree in Public Administration from California State University, Los Angeles.
Before joining the Upward Bound team, Jesus served as the Neighborhood Partnership Program (NPP) Director at Occidental. Through NPP, Jesus worked with the GEAR UP 4 LA program to provide services to LAUSD students in the Promise Zone of Los Angeles. Jesus has played a major role in developing and establishing students' services, including visits to 6 local colleges and universities, tutoring and mentoring programs, and the College Advisor Program.
Outside of his role at Oxy, he has served as Legislative and Education Chair for the Western Association of Educational Opportunity Personnel (WESTOP) for two years and as Professional Development Co-Chair for the Southern California Chapter WESTOP. He currently serves as President-Elect for WESTOP, where he works directly with the service council and supports WESTOP President Dr. Kimberly Williams's incentives.
As a first-generation student and Los Angeles native, Jesus is dedicated to increasing the number of first-generation students who graduate from college and helping their families understand the importance of higher education.