Always Thinking… Always Dreaming

Britt A. Ortiz was raised in “Old Town” Goleta, California where he attended local public schools (Goleta Union Elementary/GVJH) and graduated from Dos Pueblos High School in 1979. While at DPHS Britt was a two sport letterman in Swimming (Soph-Frosh MVP) and Water Polo and involved in the Key Club for two years. Mr. Ortiz went on to attend the University of California at Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara Community College and received his Bachelor’s Degree in 1985 from UC Santa Barbara with a double major in Sociology and Psychology. In 1995 he received his Masters Degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Cal State University, Northridge graduating with Academic Honors.

Mr. Ortiz has worked in all four segments of California higher education for the past 23 years specializing in the areas of Early Outreach, Recruitment, and Retention Services. He has served as a lecturer, worked in early outreach services, provided enrollment management services, and has been a university administrator at both public and private universities. Currently, Mr. Ortiz is the Director of the Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP) at UCSB.

Mr. Ortiz has presented at over a dozen National and more than 30 State-wide and regional higher education conferences. He has written and/or co-authored numerous State, Federal, and private foundation grant proposals that have resulted in over $4.2 million in total funding. Mr. Ortiz has also been published in several newsletters and professional journals. In the year 2000, Mr. Ortiz and his recruitment staff at CSU, Northridge were presented with the Western Association of College Admissions Counseling (WACAC), “Innovator Award.” In 2007, EAOP was identified by Campaign for College Opportunity as a Statewide “Practice with Promise” for their Cohort and School Wide (UCSB EAOP) service models.

Mr. Ortiz has also worked as an Educational Consultant in the fields of Higher Education, Diversity Management, and educational services for parents, students, and administrators. Over the past ten years Mr. Ortiz has been an aspiring Entrepreneur and is currently the Vice President and Co-Owner of BORG UNLIMITED, INC. a product development company dedicated to the commercialization of inventions and innovative products.

Mr. Ortiz is the proud father of two daughters, Melissa age 21 and Jessica age 23. He has traveled throughout the United States and the world having visited Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, the Virgen Islands, Kenya, Tanzania, Ecuador, and the Galapagos Islands. He has also had the unique experience of living through two historical natural disasters, Hurricane Alicia in Galveston, Texas in 1983 (Category 3) and the Northridge Earthquake (6.7) in 1994.