Josh Robles is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Crafton Hills College. Josh initially attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to study computer science and electrical engineering. While at MIT, he was president of his living group La Casa and involved in organizations such as Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (M.E.Ch.A) and The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). During this time, he was able to learn more about other Hispanic/Latinx culture and advocacy within STEM. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics and Statistics, Josh enrolled in the Masters’ program at Cal Poly Pomona. During his time in the program, he participated in the Teaching Assistant program and became more active in education. Josh then began a PhD program at University of California, Irvine. But during his time there, he decided to focus on teaching at the community college level and withdrew from the doctoral program. Josh now focuses on being an advocate for community college students.
Due to his own academic excursion, he became familiar with a wide variety of majors and potential career journeys. In order to make a bigger impact, he became co-lead of the Guided Pathways initiative on campus. This allowed him to reevaluate curriculum pathways to help students graduate faster. Given statistics is his specialty, he also revamped the statistics course in hopes of making it more relatable and practical. Josh has focused his time into helping students directly and through the broader education system. He has contributed to teaching and creating applicable math courses for a wide variety of majors.
Being a part of a small community college has allowed Josh to take lead and assist in restructuring the math curriculum to fit more into a modern view of education. It’s allowed him to create math courses for tech degrees and redesign a more well-rounded statistics course for different majors. Josh also has been an advocate for integrating OER materials for low and no cost courses. Besides curriculum, Josh also focuses on mentoring his students directly. He has mentored students about courses, academic pathways, internships, REUs, and attending conferences.

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“As someone of a mixed race and cultural background, Hispanic Heritage Month is an opportunity to both learn and engage more with the community. I enjoy both learning more about Hispanic cultures and sharing that knowledge with my campus and students. Working in a school where most of our students are Latinx, it’s important to give them an environment that feels like their own on a college campus.”

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