Alumna's Full Circle Journey to USD Faculty

As Yessica Green Rosas, PhD, leaves her classroom, she walks into the same halls she once roamed as a student. This spring, she’s completing her first year as a member of the faculty at USD. Just seven years ago, she was finishing her last semester as an undergrad here.

She’s often struck by how satisfying and unlikely it is to have come full circle.

“My first couple of weeks, when people would ask me how it’s going, my response would be ‘I’m still pinching myself,’” she said.

When she was a student, though, there was a time where it would have been difficult to picture herself in this position. Green Rosas was a first-generation college student with an interest in psychology. She was doing undergrad research with a professor on campus – Kristen McCabe, PhD – and developed a passion for social equity and ensuring everyone has access to mental health support. Green Rosas knew she wanted to help others, but didn’t quite know what came next.

McCabe suggested the McNair Scholars Program.

USD is one of many campuses nationwide that participates in the federal TRIO program, which helps guide first-generation and low-income students to PhD and research-focused graduate programs, and provides scholarships to support them.

Ramiro Frausto serves as associate dean of USD’s Institute of College Initiatives, and is a McNair Scholar alum himself. He talks about demystifying the process of postbaccalaureate education for young students.

“These are high-achieving students in McNair,” Frausto said. “A lot of it is helping them through that transition from a consumer of knowledge to a producer of knowledge.”

Green Rosas was working multiple jobs as an undergrad. The financial support from McNair gave her some stability, and the guidance was invaluable. Altogether, it helped her focus her efforts and work on making her dreams a reality.

But learning how to navigate applications, research opportunities, and present herself was just part of the experience. Mentorship was the other.

Green Rosas said as an undergrad she often felt things like imposter syndrome. She was a first-gen student, and a woman looking to obtain doctoral-level training. She felt the burden of stereotypes, whether that pressure was real or perceived.

“Different environments and interactions with people can either reduce those anxieties or heighten them,” she said. “So it was really nice to have a whole support team that would help you prepare for and handle that.”

USD’s McNair program gave her important touchstones, mentors with similar backgrounds who had accomplished what she was working toward, and encountered the same challenges along the way.

That normalized it for her, she said, knowing others had the same experiences. Mentors from the program taught her how to regulate her emotions – how to respond when confronted with these feelings, or when she found herself in new, foreign environments.

Green Rosas graduated from USD in 2019, going on to earn an MA in Counseling Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, before earning her PhD there as well.

She was making it happen, conquering each new mountain she had to climb. Then came a new opportunity – the chance to return to USD, this time as a faculty member.

“Usually, we think about getting first-gen students into and through college, which is an amazing accomplishment. Getting them into a PhD program to earn that PhD, and then to come back as faculty … it’s amazing,” Frausto said proudly.

Green Rosas started in the fall, teaching psychology. She already has a few students who are interested in the McNair Scholars Program, and soon they might have her to bounce ideas and questions off of. Now, as a faculty member, Green Rosas is a McNair Scholars mentor.

“I think about Lighting the Way Forward at USD,” said Sarah Castillo, director of USD’s McNair Scholars Program. “When someone lights the path, they’re not doing it just for themselves, but they’re uplifting whole communities and lighting the way for others.”

When future McNair Scholars speak with Green Rosas, they’ll know they’re getting advice from someone who went through the same things they did, right here at USD.

“I remember what I felt like when I was in their shoes,” Green Rosas said. “I'm able to pay it forward. I'm able to emulate these mentors, to help students in the way that I was helped and in the way that I was guided. I'm so grateful. It's surreal.”