Urias Garcia is an EOPS/CARE Counselor at Mount San Antonio College. He joined Mount San Antonio College in 2019. Urias currently sits on the Student Equity Committee which studies, monitors, and makes recommendations to appropriate bodies regarding the College's annual Student Equity and Achievement Program (SEAP) Work Plan, Student Equity Plan, and student equity and racial justice efforts. Furthermore, Urias also participates in the Academic Probation Committee, similarly studying, monitoring, and making recommendations regarding policies, and procedures impacting students on academic or progress probation. Moreover, as an EOPS/CARE Counselor, he was integral in developing the Peer Navigator program which seeks to create transformational experiences for the hired student mentors through intentional personal and professional development, and the student they impact through their services.
Previously, Urias he served as a General Counselor at Mission College and was especially active in the Student Equity and Success Committee where he collaborated with colleagues in developing the 2019-2022 Equity Plan for college and helped develop the Equity Professional Development Series including the "K.E.N Talks", a series of seminars which promoted equity, professional learning, and community building at the college. At Cypress College he was instrumental in helping the college develop their First Year Experience Program designed to assist students in bridging the gap from high school to college. At Orange Coast College, he served as an EOPS counselor working with first-generation and low-income students. Urias has also worked at East Los Angeles College and Pasadena City College. At Pasadena City College, Urias worked for the college's nationally recognized, and award winning, "PCC Pathways" program. Urias has also advised STEM students and Dreamers in the MESA Engineering Program (MEP) in California State University Long Beach.
Urias, a proud LGBTQ+ Chicano, was raised in Boyle Heights, a low income, immigrant community in the heart of Los Angeles and is the youngest of six siblings. Urias found his calling for counseling after being motivated by his own EOPS counselor to complete college after stopping out for nine years. Urias believes education is transformative and empowering and it is his hope he can make a difference in people's lives through mentorship.
