Directory

Pronouns: Dr./She/Her/Hers/Ella

As Assistant Dean for Advancement and Community Development, Dr. Sonia Garcia provides strategic leadership in advancing student success, institutional partnerships, and inclusive excellence initiatives within the College of Engineering. In this role, she works collaboratively with faculty, staff, and academic leadership to design, implement, and assess high-impact programs that strengthen academic pathways, expand access to educational and professional opportunities, and support the holistic development of students across the College.

Dr. Garcia leads efforts to secure and steward external funding, including competitive grants and philanthropic investments, to create sustainable scholarship opportunities, mentoring programs, and experiential learning initiatives. She partners closely with faculty and staff to align these resources with curricular and co-curricular priorities, ensuring that programs are pedagogically sound, scalable, and responsive to student and departmental needs.

A core responsibility of her position involves working alongside faculty, advisors, and professional staff to develop initiatives that support students’ successful transition to college life, persistence in engineering majors, and preparation for graduate study and professional careers—particularly for students historically underserved in STEM and engineering. Through cross-functional collaboration, she helps foster inclusive learning environments that promote retention, academic excellence, and student well-being.

Additionally, Dr. Garcia collaborates with faculty to integrate practitioner-informed and community-engaged components into academic programming, connecting industry, government, nonprofit, and research partners with classroom and experiential learning. Her work strengthens the bridge between theory and practice, enriching engineering education while advancing workforce readiness and civic responsibility.

Dr. Garcia also contributes to the College’s scholarly and institutional mission by engaging in research, assessment, and dissemination of best practices related to student success, inclusive pedagogy, and organizational change in engineering education. She works with faculty and staff to analyze program outcomes, support accreditation and reporting efforts, and produce publications and presentations that inform institutional decision-making and national conversations.

Through sustained collaboration with students, faculty, staff, and external partners, the Assistant Dean for Advancement and Community Development plays a pivotal role in advancing the College of Engineering’s mission, strengthening its academic community, and expanding its long-term impact.

Prior to her tenure at UGA, Garcia served as senior director of the Access and Inclusion Program in the Texas A&M University College of Engineering.

Garcia earned a Ph.D. in Higher Education / Higher Education Administration from Michigan State University. She received a master’s degree in Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services at the University of Rhode Island and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Government from the University of Massachusetts Boston.