Administrative Staff

Eileen M. Galvez

Directora of La Casa Cultural 

(Pronouns: She/Her/Hers/Ella)

Eileen Galvez is an Assistant Dean at Yale College and has been Directora of Yale’s La Casa Cultural de Julia de Burgos: the Latinx Cultural Center since 2015. She is Salvadoran American, making her the first Central American director of La Casa. She is a first-generation college graduate, and grew up low-income in South Central Los Angeles. For the past ten years she has worked at various higher education institutions, working with and for marginalized student groups. She is a scholar-practitioner, currently working on her Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership through Colorado State University. In addition, she serves on the Association for the Study of Higher Education Board. Her scholarly work aims to center the experiences of U.S. Central Americans in higher education and explores their racial and ethnic identity development. Eileen holds a B.A. in Political Science and an M.Ed. in Counseling & Guidance from Texas State University. 

Carolina Dávila 

Assistant Director of La Casa Cultural (on maternity leave during Summer and Fall 2021)

(Pronouns: She/Her/Hers/Ella)

Carolina joined La Casa and Yale in 2017, sits on a few Yale College committees, and is a Davenport fellow. She is involved with professional organizations such as NASPA and ACPA, focusing her engagement in equity- and identity-based opportunities. Prior to Yale, Carolina was a Residence Hall Director at the University of Connecticut (UConn) in Storrs, CT. 

Carolina is Afro-Latina, a native of Puerto Rico via Boston, and identifies as a first-generation low-income college graduate. She received her bachelor’s degree in Communication Disorders with a minor in Spanish from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and her master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ivetty Estepan

Interim Assistant Director of La Casa Cultural (Summer and Fall 2021)

(Pronouns: She/Her/Hers/Ella)

Ivetty Estepan (YC ’18) is returning to Yale after having held various positions in the access to justice, legal tech, and Hollywood DEI spaces. She most recently served as the Director of Partnerships & Community Outreach at Upsolve, a legal tech nonprofit that helps low-income families bypass attorney fees and file for bankruptcy for free. She also works for the Hollywood social impact agency, Inspire Justice, where she focuses on increasing inclusion initiatives across the film industry whether by developing personalized DEI trainings to major studios like Netflix, or by helping clients like Lionsgate evaluate and diversify their upcoming film slates. 

While at Yale, Ivetty was a proud member of Pierson College and double-majored in African American Studies and Ethnicity, Race & Migration. She was heavily involved in La Casa as well as the House where she worked as a Student Coordinator and Head Peer Liaison respectively. She also spent time getting involved in the Chaplain’s Office, the Yale Black Women’s Coalition, and the Dominican Student Association amongst many other extra-curriculars. After Yale, Ivetty went on to pursue a Master of Philosophy degree in the Sociology of Marginality and Exclusion at the University of Cambridge, where she focused on theorizing about global liberation. Her time there culminated in her dissertation titled, “Toward a Liberatory Black Transnationalism Theory: A Critique of Contemporary Black Studies & De-Centering of American Race Ideologies in Search of a Transnational Liberation Movement”.  A proud Afro-Latina who enjoys spending time building community, Ivetty is so excited to come back to her roots here at Yale and serve as the Interim Assistant Director of La Casa.