Esperanza Freitchen, MS, MBA, Ed.D.

Senior Director of Multicultural Student Services

Woman in front of industrial background. She is wearing a black blazer and red shirt. She is smiling and has shoulder-length brown and blonde hair.

Pronouns:

She, Her, Ella

Dr. Esperanza Freitchen (she/her/ella) is a native of Tucson and a lifelong Arizona resident. She currently serves as the Senior Director of Multicultural Student Services for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the department of Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement. In this capacity she provides strategic oversight of the University’s seven cultural resource centers.

In her tenure she has worked in K12 charter schools, many nonprofits focusing on serving the most vulnerable populations, youth development, and postsecondary education. She is a JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, inclusion) professional, striving to improve equity for BIPOC communities. She has extensive experience as a fundraiser and is an accomplished grant writer. Esperanza has been working in higher education for 15 years and has over 25 years of experience in working in non-profit and educational organizations in a variety of capacities including fundraising and development, grant writing, project and program management, and executive leadership.

Esperanza was a first-generation student and has dedicated her career to removing barriers to accessing postsecondary education for historically marginalized populations; and she continues to be committed to helping other first-gen students achieve postsecondary success. She holds a BA in Spanish Literature from the University of Arizona, an MS in Management and Leadership and an MBA from Western Governors University, and an Ed.D. in Leadership and Innovation from Arizona State University. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley’s Executive Leadership Academy, the Hispanic Leadership Institute, Greater Tucson Leadership’s Lead Tucson, CSU Fullerton’s LIFT program, and a member of the Sunnyside Foundation’s Hall of Fame.

Esperanza’s research has been centered on building cultural competence in online education, improving DEI practices in workplaces, strategizing on workplace communications and team dynamics, and culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies in student affairs. She is involved in several community organizations, serving on the Board of Directors for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson, subcommittee member of Greater Tucson Leadership, a volunteer with the Sunnyside Foundation, and a volunteer foster for Pima Animal Care Center