José Saleta is our new Geography staff assistant for Professor Golledge, providing personal, technical, and administrative support. Originally from Madrid, Spain, José came to Santa Barbara and the Department in 1990 as a graduate student after earning a degree in Forestry at the Polytechnic University of Madrid. He married a UCSB PhD grad student in Anthropology and graduated with an MA in Geography in 1995, having specialized in remote sensing for natural resource management. He then returned to Spain where he taught GIS, remote sensing, and surveying at the Public University of Navarre in Pamplona for four years.
José and his wife returned to Santa Barbara in 2000, became naturalized US citizens, and then had their second son. An avid potter in his graduate years, José says his only hobbies now are his children, Pablo and Oscar, aged nine and four respectively. José worked as a development engineer at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management’s microscopy facility for several years before taking his new staff position in Geography and says he’s delighted to be back in the Geography Department—and we’re equally delighted to have him on board!
