Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers came to Princeton from Texas graduating cum laude in 1987. She was the third in her extended Mexican-American family to go to college, a Pell Grant recipient, and had only attended all-girls’ Catholic schools. She received her J.D. from the University of Texas, Austin with a year as a visiting student at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
Gonzalez Rogers spent her legal career litigating with Cooley LLP in San Francisco where she was the first Latina hired as an associate and the first Latina equity partner. In 2003, she re-focused her energies on raising her three young children. During this period, she chaired an election to raise property taxes which partially funded the local public school district, conducted investigations of local governmental agencies through the county’s Civil Grand Jury, and served as a pro tem judge.
In 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed her as a trial court judge for the State of California where she presided over criminal and civil calendars. In 2010, she was elected as the first state court judge to the Council of the American Law Institute. Then, in 2011, President Barack Obama appointed her as the first Latina to serve as a Federal District Court Judge for the Northern District of California. In this capacity, she manages hundreds of civil and criminal cases ranging from prison gang racketeering conspiracies to patent, environmental, and civil rights disputes, to name a few.
In addition to her judicial duties, Gonzalez Rogers served on the Board of Trustees for Princeton University from 2014-18. She has been married to her Princeton beau for 30 years (Matt ’85) and is now a Princeton parent (Maria ’20).