California State University San Bernardino 

Daisy Ocampo, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, History

We always start introducing ourselves in my community, 
who my parents are, and right, my family. 
I'm the granddaughter of Petra Bautista Gallegos. 
My parents, my dad is Refugio Ocampo, my mom is Eduviges Gomez. 
I am their daughter. 
I'm from the Caz' Ahmo tribe. 
We are also called Caxcan. 
Our nation is located in southern Zacatecas. 
As a Native faculty, my first priority is to make sure that I'm in conversation and engaged 
with Californian Indian people here. 
A lot of my projects are oriented towards the needs here, and of course, 
I bring in my tribe, too, but to me it's both. 
One of the reasons I joined Cal State San Bernardino is 
because of how community engagement was built into the mission of the school, 
because that's in line with how -- who I am as a person, as a scholar, and as an educator. 
I really worked to bring my students into all the projects that I'm a part of. 
For example, I'm creating a virtual museum on Sherman Institute, 
or it's now called Sherman Indian High School. 
It's a Native American boarding school. 
I applied for a community engagement grant to support that work. 
I received that grant, and so we're in partnership with Sherman Indian Museum, 
and from there, I was able to hire I think six students through the summer to work with me. 
So they're actually gaining this huge job skill. 
You know, often times, we go to school and it's all theory and not practice-based. 
Right? And so I'm lucky enough that I'm able to provide that experience to my students. 
I am part of a generation of Native people, but specifically Native women 
who are writing their own histories. 
And so for me, it was just very important to be able to be in a position 
where I can write my own history, where I can research with people that aren't just others. 
Right? They are my family. 
And bringing in what I know about our people and our ties to the land, 
I bring that in into my teaching and to my research, my projects, my service, 
and what I hope is just my presence here at Cal State San Bernardino. 
My name is Daisy Ocampo. 
I'm from the Caxcan nation, and I am happy to be part of the Cal State San Bernardino family. 

[Howl]
We Define the Future CSUSB