Administration & Faculty

Mr. Shamari is Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the State of California. He holds a BA degree in economics with a minor in accounting, as well as a Master of Science degree in accounting. He has worked as a controller for Zeeto, assurance manager for Earnst & Young, and accounting manager for Meta-Facebook. He has ample enterprise resource product experience with Oracle, SAP, and QuickBooks, as well as training in TILA compliance.

Dr. Rodriguez has over 10 years of expertise in Artificial Intelligence, specializing in affective computing, machine learning, computation, data mining, statistics, and analytics. He holds Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering from Tecnologico Nacional de Mexico, a Master’s degree in Digital Systems from Politecnico Nacional de Mexico, and a Ph.D. in Cybernetics from Tecnologico Nacional de Mexico. He is a distinguished academic researcher having worked as faculty at Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Instituto Tecnologico de Tijuana, and the Digital Technology Research and Development Center of Instituto Politecnico Nacional (CITEDI-IPN) in Mexico. In addition, he has extensive experience in developing algorithms that enable human-like reasoning in machines with impactful applications in critical sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, and cybersecurity.

Dr. Rico holds a B.A. in International Relations from Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM), a Master’s degree in Modern Languages from Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, a Foundations of Positive Psychology Specialization from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in Language Science from Universidad Autonoma de Baja California where she graduated summa cum laude. She has designed and implemented training seminars based on the PERMA model of Positive Psychology to help university students develop soft skills. Dr. Rico incorporates the PERMA model to her lessons to enhance her students’ academic experience and performance. She is passionate about building safe learning environments where students connect with each other and contribute to each other’s growth.

Beatriz Escobedo, M.S. is Chief Student Services Officer at SDGKU. Her function is to oversee student services at the university and report directly to the President the status of the department. In 2003, she earned her undergraduate degree in business administration from Universidad Autonoma de Baja California (UABC), in Tijuana, Mexico, and was the valedictorian of her class, having obtained the top grade point average amongst her peers. She later earned a Master of Science Degree in International Management and a global competency certification in International Managerial Leadership from SDGKU in 2008. Her past professional experience includes management, training and education in the hospitality/tourism sector.

Briana Ochoa has been a professional level librarian since 2017. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in History from Chapman University and a Master of Science in Library and Information Science (MLIS) from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Mrs. Ochoa has worked for both academic and public libraries; she currently serves as a Supervising Librarian for a public library and an Online Librarian for a nursing college. At SDGKU, she assists students and faculty with their information and reference needs, assist in locating research articles and assist in navigating databases.

Dr. Caroline P. Cárdenas has been providing counseling and advising services for over 10 years. She has been a registered nurse for over 18 years. She holds an Associate in Science in Nursing from Chaffey College, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Science in Nursing Education from Walden University, as well as a Master of Arts in Psychology and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Psychology from Meridian University. Caroline has served as a nurse and academic adviser throughout the United States, working within prestigious education and healthcare institutions such as the University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, City of Hope, San Diego Hospice, and the University of San Diego California Moores Cancer Center.

Dr. Celia Olmedo’s experience as a university instructor dates back to 2019 teaching at the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels. As a researcher, she specializes in economic and administrative sciences, investigating topics such as competitiveness, management strategies, and innovation in organizations. She has held leadership roles in both governmental and educational institutions as head of budgeting and planning, as well as Chief Administrator. Dr. Olmedo holds a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration and Political Science, a master’s degree in Management, and Ph.D. in Management Sciences from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California.

She is a faculty member for the Bachelor of Science in Global Management program.

Devahn Parker is the Director of Admissions and Registrar for SDGKU.  She is responsible for all admissions functions including processing student applications, enrolling students to their program of interest, record keeping and ensuring academic coursework is scheduled for current and future courses among other key duties. Devahn holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Trident University.  She has extensive regulatory auditing experience  in post-secondary education having worked at several universities during her career.

Dr. Eric Rios has extensive experience as a teacher and researcher in the areas of marketing, business administration and economics.  He earned a bachelor’s degree in Marketing from La Universidad Technological de Mexico with an emphasis in Industrial Business Management, a master’s degree in Business Administration from Universidad de las Americas, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM). He has worked as a researcher and faculty member for the Universidad Politecnica Metropolitana de Hidalgo and other private institutions, such as the Universidad de las Américas in Mexico City. He has served as consultant to several organizations, such as the BASOR company, in charge of the commercial area at the “Provision” Ophthalmology Center. He is also a Member of the National System of Researchers (National Council of Science and Technology) in Mexico. The above mentioned foreign academic degree(s) have been validated for equivalency in the United States.

Farah Palomas serves as bookkeeper at SDGKU and has over 25 years of experience offering bookkeeping and tax preparation services. Her duties include processing invoices, receipts, payments, and other financial transactions for the university. In addition, she is responsible for reconciling accounts and preparing reconciliation reports, as well as managing accounts receivable and accounts payable.

Dr. Galvan has a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration and Political Science, a master’s degree in Business Administration, and a Ph.D. in Administrative Sciences from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC). He has taught at Universidad del Valle de Mexico and currently coordinates political science research at the college of administrative science, UABC Mexicali. His areas of research interest include the impact of government on society and the evolution of political science in the world today.

Ilian Rosales, M.S. is Chief Administration Officer at SDGKU. Her main role is to manage the functional areas of SDGKU administration, specifically as a liaison reporting to the President. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from CETYS Universidad, in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, and earned a Master of Science in International Management from SDGKU. Mrs. Rosales has a broad range of professional experience in administrative roles, educational and training support functions and tasks, as well as accounting practices. In addition, Mrs. Rosales is key to maintaining and growing alliances through the establishment of constant, efficient, and functional lines of communication between SDGKU and partner organizations.

Dr. Jorge A. Cardenas was born and raised in San Diego, CA and is a part-time faculty at San Diego Global Knowledge University. He is also currently an Assistant Dean and Professor at the Forbes School of Business and Technology® at the University of Arizona Global Campus. Dr. Cardenas has served on the board of directors of the International Accreditation Council for Business Education, a CHEA approved international business program accreditor, for over five years. He was elected as the chair of the Board of Directors in 2022.

Prior to joining San Diego Global Knowledge University, he worked for a pioneering distance education company, the International Training Center, utilizing telecommunication technologies to deliver educational programs to public, private, government, and civil society institutions in over 20 countries. He also has experience in hotel management and business development and has taught graduate-level business courses at several other universities in both traditional and online classroom settings. He is passionate about entrepreneurship and is a co-founder of an international bottled water start-up.

He has a Doctor of Business Administration from Alliant International University, a BS in business administration (information systems) and an MS in business administration (entrepreneurship) from San Diego State University. He also earned a Project Management Certificate from the University of California San Diego Extension. His research interests include entrepreneurship, strategy, and higher education, and his hobbies include playing and watching soccer, going to the beach, and cooking.

Dr. Fernandez is a visual artist and scholar. He is a Doctor in Art from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and has carried out research stays at the University of Barcelona, ​​the National University of Cuyo, and the University of Murcia. As an academician, he has presented works at CENDEAC (Spain), Polytechnic University of Valencia, University of Chile, Autonomous Mexico State University, Autonomous University of Hidalgo, National Autonomous University of Mexico, National Library of Argentina, and the Autonomous University of Baja California. His academic work has been published in Argentina, Chile, Spain, and Mexico.

Dr. Fernandez completed the Doctorate Art: Production and Research at the Polytechnic University of Valencia where he was part of the research team in Audiovisual Technologies. He also has a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in arts at the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC) and at the University of Brasilia, respectively.

Dr. Fernandez has been part of the support team for the production of contemporary art granted by the Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT). In 2017 he obtained a scholarship from the Elías Fontes collection to study contemporary art production in Unexpected Relations. In 2016 he participated in the Contemporary Photography Program in Tijuana, Baja California.

Dr. Vela has a bachelor’s degree in international trade relations from the Universidad Intercontinental in Mexico City, a master’s degree in marketing from the Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior at the Mexicali campus, and a Ph.D.  in Administrative Sciences from the Universidad IEU of Puebla, Mexico. He is the founder of the first international university association in foreign trade (1999-2005) and also serves as a research professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, in addition to his faculty role at San Diego Global Knowledge University. Dr. Vela is recognized by the national system of researchers in Mexico as a researcher for the generation of knowledge in the areas oriented to the optimization of marketing processes in the primary sector and the inclusion of technology that allow efficiency in distribution, research-oriented to human capital, innovation, social networks, organizational performance, sustainability, gender equity and sustainability of organizations.

Dr. Hernandez-Lepe holds a Ph.D, in Chemical-Biological Sciences from Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez, a master’s degree in Moleculular Biosciences from Universidad de Sonora, and a bachelor’s degree in Chemical-Biological Clinical Studies from Universidad de Sonora. He has been a researcher at the Medical and Psychology School of the Autonomous University of Baja California since 2019. He is recognized as an International Anthropometrist Level 2 by the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry. His areas of research focus on personalized health, nutrition, sports, and chronic diseases.

Dr. Pérez has a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, a master’s degree in Teaching from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC), and a Doctorate in Education at Universidad Iberoamericana Tijuana. She has been a philosophy professor for twenty years at UABC and Head of the Humanities and Social Science Department at Universidad Iberoamericana Tijuana (2015-2018). She also was Dean of the Universidad Interamericana para el Desarrollo, Campus Tijuana, (2006-2012), and Director of Undergraduate Programs at Universidad Iberoamericana Tijuana (2013-2015).

Dr. Fernanda Murillo’s educational background is based firmly on computer engineering. She has a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Universidad Autonoma de Baja California. Her expertise focuses in User Experience (UX) and persuasive systems. Dr. Murillo has extensive experience teaching undergraduate students in subjects such as Software Engineering and UX/UI Design. She guides students using an Agile process for developing a minimum viable software product through classroom workshops, which include methods for gathering and documenting software requirements, the utilization of the SCRUM framework, as well as low and high-level software design. In addition to her teaching experience, she also has experience independently designing various digital products.

Dr. Nava is an active member of the distinguished Sistema Nacional de Investigación (National System of Researchers) in Mexico.  She earned all of her university degrees at Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Mexico. Dr. Nava has a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in Economics Sciences, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Economics. Her academic areas of interest are in the fields of economics and social science research and has published in academic journals and textbooks. She has several years of experience teaching bachelor’s degree students in business, administrative and management sciences. The above mentioned foreign academic degree(s) have been validated for equivalency in the United States.

Miguel A. Cardenas, Ph.D. is the Founder and President of San Diego Global Knowledge University. He is a graduate of San Diego State University, where he obtained a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering “Summa Cum Laude”. He later attended UCLA, having been distinguished with the “Chancellor’s Teaching Fellowship,” a four-year award which represents the highest academic honor to an entering graduate student at the University of California system. There he completed a Master of Science degree in the field of Operations Research and a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering. During the seventies, Dr. Cardenas was a full-time faculty member of the prestigious Systems Engineering Department at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was co-chairman of the first-ever regionalized international global modeling project called “Mankind at the Turning Point,” sponsored by the Club de Rome. This famous global project was the first to coin and propose now widely recognized terms such as “globalization”, “interdependence” and “organic growth”. At that time he also published the first textbooks on systems engineering and applications in the Spanish language. From 1977 to 1983, Dr. Cardenas served as chief government administrator (Oficial Mayor de Gobierno) and Secretary of Education and Social Welfare for the State of Baja California, Mexico. Dr. Cardenas has written and collaborated on numerous books and articles dealing with systems analysis, global dynamics, human networked collaboration, educational technology, managerial leadership, sustainability, synchronization, green energy, and English language proficiency as a workskill, pioneering terms and concepts such as global competency, dual curriculum, distance activity, international managerial leadership, organizational synchronization, and ETK. He has presented seminars, workshops and courses on global themes for over 30 years, producing and delivering more than 180 of them via satellite, room-videconferencing,  and the Internet to audiences in all continents. He is a widely recognized innovator and global systems thinker. In October of 2009 he received an Honoris Causa Doctor Degree from Universidad Ricardo Palma in Lima, Peru, and in June of 2011 was named Special Adviser to Tianjin College of Commerce (TCC) in Tianjin, China.

Dr. Cardenas, Jr. is co-owner of San Diego Global Knowledge University (SDGKU) and serves as its Chief Academic Officer. His responsibilities include faculty and student academic review, academic assessment of programs and courses, as well as curricular planning and development. He has extensive experience in higher education regulatory processes, program development, and is a specialist in international business approaches and techniques.

He holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from Revelle College of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), an M.S. in International Management from San Diego Global Knowledge University, and a Ph.D. in Leadership with an emphasis in business, organizational psychology, and international relations from the Alliant School of Management and the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University.

His areas of social science research include solar power and technology transfer, the global sports industry, and global leadership competencies. In the area of biochemical science, Dr. Cardenas has led research studies analyzing benign prostate hyperplasia (enlarged prostate) and the ocular and nasal trigeminal detection of pungency effects of volatile organic compounds (VOC’s). Dr. Cardenas Jr. has a unique understanding of the different components of human behavior; from its most basic at the cellular and molecular levels (organic) to the more complex individual and group levels (organizations).

As Chief Academic Officer, he has overseen several regulatory milestones for SDGKU, such as obtaining California state approvals to operate and achieving federally recognized accreditation. In addition, he leads several institutional processes for obtaining renewals of licenses and grants from government and private regulatory agencies. His experience as a student and faculty at public, private non-profit, and private for-profit educational institutions of small, medium, and large scale provides him a broad perspective of the educational industry, particularly in understanding value-added measures to evaluate institutions and degree programs according to their graduates’ likely economic outcomes.

Dr. Escobar has over 23 years of experience teaching business and finance university courses. She holds a Ph.D. in management and finance from Universidad Autonoma Popular in Puebla, Mexico and numerous diplomas and professional certification courses in curricular development, creation of instructional competencies, and pedagogical competencies in distance education. She has participated in both faculty and university administration roles, which provides her with an enriched perspective regarding curricular planning and instructional design.

Mr. Gonzalez is a computer engineer with over 15 years of proven professional experience building software and applications. He has worked as a software engineer, business analyst, security consultant and has held the titles of director of software development and senior software engineering manager. He has developed software that supports hundreds of millions of users worldwide and has developed key features in one of the three most used mobile operating systems in the world, amongst other projects. A strong supporter of software development best practices, agile frameworks and open-source technologies, Rafael is passionate about sharing his knowledge and experience when it comes to software engineering.

Professor Jimenez has several years of experience teaching computer software engineering, programming, and computer science for bachelor’s-level students. She has participated in a leadership role in various software development projects both for industry and academia. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Sciences and a Master’s in Engineering from the Autonomous University of Baja California and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Colima. Her research interests are human-computer interaction, dialogue systems, affective competing, and educational systems. She has presented her work in several conferences and published in international scientific journals. The above mentioned foreign academic degree(s) have been validated for equivalency in the United States.

Dr. Inzunza is a Full Stack Development Immersive professor, as well as Mobile Development Immersive 1 and 2 professor and lead faculty. He has over a decade of experience teaching software development and software engineering courses to bachelor’s-level students and professional development cohorts. He has extensive professional experience in the field of software engineering, having worked at various levels of software development for more than 15 years. Dr. Inzunza holds a Bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering, a Master’s degree in Computer Science, and a Ph.D. in Software Engineering from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. His research areas include Software Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction, and Recommender Systems. He has published multiple research papers in international peer-reviewed journals. The aforementioned foreign academic degrees have been evaluated and recognized as equivalent to U.S. degrees.

In addition to his academic qualifications, Dr. Inzunza brings a robust professional background in the software development industry. He has held roles as a front-end, full stack, and mobile developer at Senior and Lead Engineer levels, contributing to high-impact projects at several multi-billion-dollar companies. His industry experience spans large-scale web and mobile applications, agile team leadership, and mentoring junior developers. This unique combination of academic rigor and practical expertise positions Dr. Inzunza to lead and inspire students in both the theoretical and applied aspects of software engineering.

Tonya Parker-Jones serves as Chief Compliance Officer at San Diego Global Knowledge University. She has ample experience in consulting, financial aid processing, on-site staffing and other customized services to colleges and universities (private, public, for-profit and non-profit) for improving their operations within regulatory compliance. She has responded to over 300 program reviews for more than 500 colleges in 34 states for well over 29 years.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts from California State Polytechnic – Pomona. Tonya works closely with the U.S. Department of Education, accrediting and State agencies to help institutions respond to program reviews and rebuild their operational infrastructure by developing and refining policies and procedures. After calling on Tonya to help address audit issues with the U. S. Department of Education, several institutions have significantly reduced the amount of liability incurred. Her expertise in regulatory compliance, financial aid, accreditation, and distance education is of great value to San Diego Global Knowledge University.