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Paula Abitia Armendariz (She/her/hers) currently serves as the Director of the McNeill Academic Program where she provides programmatic oversight to the University of Colorado Boulder’s largest Educational Opportunity Program. Prior to serving as the Director, she supported McNeill as a Program Coordinator and Assistant Director. Her passions and areas of expertise include asset-based retention strategies for historically underrepresented students and inclusive student leadership development.

Paula identifies as Chicana and was, proudly, born and raised in Denver, CO. She is a first-generation college graduate and her experiences as an undergraduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder sparked her passion for equity in Higher Education. Paula earned her BA in Ethnic Studies with an emphasis in Sociology from the University of Colorado Boulder and her MA in Higher Education from the University of Colorado Boulder.