Introducing President Teniente-Matson
Welcome to the Spring 2023 edition of Washington Square: The Magazine!
Dr. Cynthia Teniente-Matson began her tenure as San José State University’s 31st president — and first Latina president — on January 16, 2023. Formerly president of Texas A&M University–San Antonio, Teniente-Matson is a nationally recognized leader with more than 30 years of service in higher education.
Strategic recalibration and student success are among her highest priorities as she gets to know the SJSU community.
April 25 marks President Teniente-Matson’s 100th day on campus. Take a look back at the events she's attended and groups on and off campus she has met with early in her Spartan tenure.
“Talent is universal. Opportunity is not. We are the creators of that opportunity, and everything we do is reinventing and reinforcing the opportunity for ourselves, those around us, and the students and alumni that we influence.”
Follow the president on social media
Muwekma Ohlone SJSU Area Land Acknowledgement
The San José State University community recognizes that the present-day Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, with an enrolled Bureau of Indian Affairs documented membership of over 550, is comprised of all of the known surviving American Indian lineages aboriginal to the San Francisco Bay region who trace their ancestry through the Missions Santa Clara, San José, and Dolores, during the advent of the Hispano-European empire into Alta California; and who are the successors and living members of the sovereign, historic, previously Federally Recognized Verona Band of Alameda County.
Furthermore, the San José State University community recognizes that the university is established within the Thámien Ohlone-speaking tribal ethnohistoric territory, which based upon the unratified federal treaties of 1851–1852, includes the unceded ancestral lands of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of the enrolled Muwekma lineages are descended from direct ancestors from the Thámien Ohlone tribal territory whose ancestors had affiliation with Mission Santa Clara.
The San José State University community also recognizes the importance of this land to the indigenous Muwekma Ohlone people of this region, and consistent with our principles of community and diversity strives to be good stewards on behalf of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe whose land we occupy.
Top photo: Robert C. Bain. Bottom photo: Irene Adeline Milanez BA Journalism ’25 and Alyssa Karlin BFA Photo ’23.
Digital Edition Contributors
WRITERS
Tiffany Harbrecht Anwyn Hurxthal Marcus Ismael Julia Halprin Jackson Kenneth Mashinchi
DIGITAL
Anna Augustowska Monica Bosque Eric Harding Trevor Phillips
DESIGN/ART
Michelle Frey Roman Goshev Jennifer Guo Pourya Nadimi
PHOTO/VIDEO
Robert C. Bain Javier Duarte Jim Gensheimer David Schmitz
Washington Square: San José State University's Magazine © 2023. All Rights Reserved | Land Acknowledgement