Annabelle Rodriguez
Dean of Career Education & Workforce Development
Annabelle believes that Career Education & Workforce Development, more than any other higher education program, has the power to close the workforce skills gaps and prepare students for their future in a changing workforce and career climate. She is amplifying the impact of this program and taking it to the community.
Annabelle previously served as the Director of Adult Education & Workforce Training at Cabrillo College and the director of the adult education consortium in Santa Cruz County called GOAL (Greater Opportunities Through Adult Learning). In this previous role, she partnered to support CTE, Noncredit, ESL, adult dual enrollment, and supported the college in developing onboarding processes that were more accessible and friendlier to adult learners. She managed over $3.9M in CAEP and WIOA funding focused on adult education and workforce training in the Santa Cruz region. She has an adult son who just graduated with his MFA from UMASS Amherst in Creative Writing. Annabelle has a BA from CSU Monterey Bay in Social & Behavioral Sciences: Cultural Anthropology; studied at UC Santa Cruz for her Masters (MA) in Secondary Teaching and Bilingual Cross-Cultural Language Development (BCLAD); and received her Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from Golden Gate University in San Francisco. She has a strong background in public education, higher ed, and nonprofit management focused on community economic development and family health and wellness initiatives. She is an avid reader, traveler, hiker, sci-fi enthusiast, film and museum goer. She is active in local native and indigenous communities. She identifies as Indigenous and Chicana. Her pronouns are her, she, ella. She recently purchased an e-bike and is excited to get it out on the road.
Leslie De Rose
Career Education Coordinator
Cabrillo College has been the professional "home" of Leslie for 10 years. During her time here, she has enjoyed supporting Cabrillo’s Career Education programs and faculty through state and federal grant project allocation and oversight. She is passionate about her role in helping students gain the important personal and professional skills that they will need to enter the workforce. Leslie brings a strong connection with Cabrillo’s K12 partners as she served as a School Board Trustee with Pajaro Valley Unified School District from 2006-2018. Lesle’s personal passions are family, travel, golf and cooking.
Leslie earned a master certificate in career education and economic and workforce development from the California Community College Association for Occupational Educators, three Associate degrees from Cabrillo College, a Bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly Humboldt and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration.
Go Seahawks!
Sara Decelle
Academic Specialist, Career Technical Education
Sara leads career education curriculum development in conjunction with faculty content experts to develop new noncredit courses and programs. She helps keep career education curriculum, both credit and noncredit, at the highest quality with quick approval. She leads noncredit marketing and connects with our adult learning consortium partners to bring relevant and impactful educational opportunities to all students of any age, entering a variety of careers from many levels and backgrounds. She assists the Career Education Dean and staff members with all projects involving curriculum and program development such as reports to College governance, Credit for Prior Learning, data analysis, and course choice appropriate to meet grant and special project goals.
Sara has a master’s degree in Mathematics and a bilingual teaching credential (Spanish) and has taught Math at Cabrillo college since 2002. She ventured into career education in 2019 when she performed research into Ag Business articulation and mechatronics at the CSU and UC level. After learning everything possible about workforce and short-term vocational noncredit she became full time faculty in Career Education in 2021.
Windy Ruby Valdez
Senior Financial Support Specialist
Windy has been with Cabrillo College since 2010. She manages budget and fiscal oversight for various Career Education grants including Perkins and Strong Workforce Program funds. She also provides fiscal support to the CTC – Computer Technology Center. She is also an entrepreneur with a small business background.
The indigenous Cherokee elder, Stan Rushworth, once said “the difference between a Western settler mindset of, "I have rights" and an indigenous mindset of "I have an obligatio", instead of thinking that I am born with rights, I choose to think that I was born with obligations to serve past, present, and future generations, and the planet herself.”
Desha Staley-Raatior
Career Development Director
Desha has over 20 years in the education field and is passionate about supporting students along their path. Her career path began while volunteering at Planned Parenthood during her final semester at ASU. That experience led to her first job as a Community Health Educator working with diverse populations throughout Arizona & the Bay Area. After graduate school, she worked at the University of San Francisco as the Assistant Director of Student Activities and at the University of Hawaii, Hilo as the Educational Specialist working on a grant focused on Pacific Islander students. She served four years as the Student Employment Coordinator at Cabrillo and has been the Director of Career Development since 2021. As the director, she oversees the Employment & Internship Office which includes employer engagement, career preparation for students, career skills classes, Internships and apprenticeships.
MA, International & Multicultural Education - University of San Francisco
BA, Psychology, minor Spanish - Arizona State University
Serena Federman
Internship and Work Experience Faculty Coordinator
Serena is the Internship and Work Experience Faculty Coordinator at Cabrillo College. She first joined Cabrillo 7 years ago as a Job Developer and then Associate Instructor. Serena has worked with adults around the topics of self advocacy and empowerment in various capacities for over 20 years. She has worked at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Santa Cruz Community Ventures and United Way of Santa Cruz County.
Serena is excited to combine her love for higher education and passion for social justice in the effort to transform systems and create career fulfillment and greater personal autonomy. She does this through connecting individuals with careers and by teaching noncredit workplace readiness courses. She is excited to support students in their journey to gain valuable work experience which they can apply to their professional career goals in her new capacity as the Internship and Work Experience Coordinator.
Serena holds a degree in Biology and Environmental Studies from UCSC and a Masters Degree in Public Policy from the Leon Panetta Institute of Public Policy at CSUMB.
Annie Wheatley
Job Developer
As a job developer, Annie supports students and alumni with preparing for and connecting to employment and internship opportunities. She provides guidance to students with creating their application and jobseeker materials, such as resumes, cover letters, and online job board profiles, and collaborates with local employers to identify opportunities which could be a good fit for our students. In support of the Employment & Internship Office, Annie also provides event planning and coordination support for all career-oriented events on campus, such as our career fairs and internship showcases.
Prior to coming to Cabrillo College, Annie lived and worked in Southern California, providing career exploration, transfer preparation, and leadership development support to historically underrepresented student populations at Moorpark College. She is passionate about creating safe, compassionate spaces for all students to identify, pursue, and achieve their educational and career goals.
Dana Logston
Student Employment Coordinator
Dana is responsible for managing the day to day running of the Employment and Internship Office. She and her team help students find and apply for jobs on the Seahawk Job Board, as well as ensure on-campus Student Assistants complete their hiring paperwork correctly and in a timely manner. Dana also works one on one with students to develop or edit their cover letters and resumes and presents workshops campus-wide on topics including resume writing, interview skills, and creating a LinkedIn profile.
Dana was previously employed with the University of Sydney for 6.5 years, working with their Inbound Study Abroad and Exchange Program, where she managed research and industry internship placements for about 250 students per year, as well as serving as the unit of study coordinator for the accompanying internship class.