Educator, Healthcare Professional, Former COD Trustee

A daughter of immigrants and a first-generation college graduate, Mary Jane Sanchez served honorably as a College of the Desert (COD) Trustee from 2012 to 2020. She made history by becoming the first Latina chair of the Board of Trustees at COD and achieving numerous successes by placing the needs of students first. Those achievements included free tuition to all high school graduating students in the Coachella Valley, free bus passes for all COD students to get to and from work and school, new COD classrooms in Desert Hot Springs, and the new COD East Valley Campus in Indio.

Mary Jane received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from Golden Gate University. She furthered her professional learning by being certified in Executive Education in Public Policy at the University of Southern California and in Non-Profit Organizational Management at Notre Dame University. For more than twenty years, Mary Jane has taught K-12, English as a Second Language, and Business and Economics at multiple colleges and universities, such as College of the Desert, UCLA Extension, and Santa Monica College. Her career expands several decades with non-profit work, community outreach, coalition building, marketing, and more recently, as a healthcare professional helping homebound seniors.

As a former COD trustee, Mary Jane advocated for and helped pass a voter-approved $578 million college education bond that will be utilized to build a West Valley Campus for students and workers primarily in Desert Hot Springs, Thousand Palms, Cathedral City, and Palm Springs.  Plus, she voted to double the size of COD’s East Valley Campus in Indio that will provide additional classrooms and an early childhood development center so parents have the opportunity to go to college, too. She played an integral role in establishing a Food Bank for food insecure students, enhanced the Veterans Resource Center, and helped establish the Dreamers Resource Center, Gender and Sexual Diversity Pride Center, Black Student Success Center, Foster Youth Center, and the Berger Faculty Innovation Center at COD. Mary Jane voted for California Indian Nations College to begin its process of full accreditation through a collaboration with COD. She also led the charge for water bottle stations throughout COD in order to conserve water and protect our planet from single-use plastic bottles.

During Mary Jane’s tenure on COD’s Board of Trustees, the college became the fastest-growing community college in California, had record-breaking graduation rates, and earned national and state awards and nominations for academic excellence including the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence and the winner of the prestigious Bellwether Award. The state chancellor for California’s community colleges honored COD for its efforts in providing Outstanding Student Success.

Mary Jane has received a long list of personal accolades over her career including Citizen of Achievement from the League of Women Voters, Community Advocate Award by the National Latina Business Women’s Association, Woman of Distinction by the California State Assembly, Advocate for Women’s Equality Award by the California State Senate, and Person of Distinction by Veterans for Peace, just to name a few.  Additionally, she has been a member of the American Association of University Women, multiple chambers of commerce, a Paul Harris Fellow with Rotary International, and former president of LULAC Inland Empire.

Both being animal lovers, Mary Jane and her husband, Robert, share their home with five rescue pets - three dogs and two cats.