Azucena Beltran (she, her, hers)

Project Manager

Azucena works closely with faculty and other project partners to coordinate community engaged collaborations and implement project deliverables. She is an experienced project manager who can work with partners and funders, provide internal and external communications, event planning, and meeting facilitation. She ensures individual deliverables are progressing towards intended project goals while ensuring there is effective feedback among partner organizations. Her ability to clarify project responsibilities and timelines while managing project administration makes her an essential contributor to institute supported projects.

Azucena coordinates the training and capacity building work of the CEMI Technical Assistance (TA) Team, and provides ongoing support and information flows between the TA Team, the Sierra Health Foundation (SHF), and the CEMI cohort. Her additional responsibilities include tracking and maintaining records of project components, facilitating, communications, and planning events. The TA items she supports the CEMI cohort with the most is in utilizing the power mapping tool, and actively engaging with organizations in attempts to create region-specific power maps that can be used to identify power dynamics and plan CBO’s strategies when approaching decision makers.

Azucena is a first generation college graduate, she was born and raised in the Coachella Valley and comes from a migrant farmworker family. Azucena is a fellow banana slug alumni, she graduated in 2018 with a Environmental Studies major and has been serving as a project manager with UCSC since 2021. Prior to her social economic work she was deeply involved in environmental health, restoration, and conservation. One of the projects she’s managed in the past was the “Salton Sea Long-Term Restoration” project, where she supported the Independent Review Panel’s (IRP) review process of 18 water importation concepts. In her personal time, she serves as a board member for the Colorado River Basin’s Regional Water Quality Control Board. Azucena is experienced with facilitation of public meetings, bilingual communications, and management. She is interested in contributing to projects related to renewable energy, environmental justice, and labor, all of which align with her professional growth goals.

Contact info: azrbeltr@ucsc.edu