Growing up in Los Angeles, Maria De La Garza knew she wanted a successful career. Her parents immigrated to the city from Mexico, determined to give their children a bright future and instill a strong work ethic in the De La Garza siblings.
But at 17, she was faced with the harsh reality that college was out of reach for her. However, “that only motivated me to make things happen for myself,” she said. In the aftermath of the Los Angeles Riots, in 1994 De La Garza joined a program for at-risk youth the city started in partnership with USC. She was subsequently hired into the job-training program and worked there for three years, helping youth in the community obtain the same career opportunities she had. She received accolades from then-Mayor Richard Riordan and then-U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer for her work in the youth program. Once the partnership ended, she was hired at USC Gould in 1997, where she worked her way up to her current role.
Today, De La Garza is the Associate Dean of Human Resources and Administration at USC Gould School of Law. And she is a double Trojan, having earned her bachelor’s degree in communications from USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and a master’s degree in dispute resolution from USC Gould.
USC Gould sat down with De La Garza to discuss her new role and unique educational journey.
What led to your decision to pursue education here?
De La Garza: Seeing students from all walks of life, despite their obstacles, following their dreams really inspired me and it made me think, “if they could do it, I could do it.” While I was working at Gould, I also completed college courses during the evenings at the local community college, Los Angeles Trade Technical-College, to earn the credits required to transfer to USC. People were always telling me, “you won’t be able to get in,” and “it’s too expensive” but I decided to follow through with my plans and scheduled an appointment with the admissions dean at Annenberg to craft a plan to transfer.
After that I applied and, despite what people were expecting, I was accepted. From there I went on to earn my bachelor’s degree. The deans and professors at Gould were very inspirational and supportive, which helped me choose the MDR program, a degree that really complimented my career in Human Resources. The program had excellent staff and faculty who are experts in the mediation field. It took me a long time and it was a long journey, but I did it.
How has your master’s degree assisted you in your new position here?
De La Garza: My degree has helped a lot, making me more empathetic while also sharpening my problem-solving and conflict management skills. In my role, it is important to know that people don’t inherently seek out conflict. What tends to happen is that conflicting parties have similar goals but each party has a different value system preventing them from overcoming the problem at that moment. What my degree has allowed me to do is understand those value systems and uncover the underlying human interests or goals to help parties reach a resolution.
What are your goals in your new role?
De La Garza: My main goal this year is to offer leadership training to our managers. I want to empower them to create collaborative and productive teams where everyone can grow professionally in a supportive and positive workplace environment.
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