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Profile: César G. Abarca
from May 2023
by El Leñador
by Eddy Guzman
Associate Professor César G. Abarca has been working at Cal Poly Humboldt since the fall of 2013. He teaches in the Social Work department and is the program director for the Master of Social Work program. Abarca is a Latino professor who aims to diversify the university and help students of color.
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When Abarca was hired, the university qualified as a Hispanic-Serving Institution. An HSI is an institution of higher education that has 25% or more Hispanic or Latino full-time student enrollment.
“The transition from predominantly white institution to Hispanic Serving Institution was a result of efforts that university invested in bringing these students,” Abarca said. “What they didn’t realize was that it wasn’t just about bringing the students in; it was about retaining those students, providing support to those students, and having also faculty who reflected the experience of those students.”
An aspect of being an HSI that Abarca is interested in is the diversity in faculty. He finds this important because Abarca has seen the lack of faculty of color first-hand throughout his time at CPH. Students of color constantly rely on faculty of color for support. Abarca is the only faculty of color on tenure-track in the Department of Social Work, which was confirmed by Jamie Jensen, department chair of social work.
Abarca currently teaches Social Work 643: Community and Organization. Students learn how to uplift and engage the communities that they work in.
“He talks a lot about things in other countries,” said Jose Moreno, a student in Abarca's SW 643 class. “We also talk about Mexico, we talk about things that are going on in [El]Salvador, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, just open to geographical places that impact a lot of communities where I'm from, or my community and people that I know live in those communities or from those communities.”
Abarca helped found Scholars without Borders in 2017 and is currently the faculty adviser. This program focuses on supporting all students but mainly
