Faculty Researchers

Paty Abril-Gonzalez

Assistant Professor

Studies long-term relationships with Latinx bilingual students and teachers using arts-based biliteracy approaches to affirm and amplify silenced perspectives.

Jennifer K. Adair

Professor

Research interests focus on inequities in early schooling and the intersection of immigration, race and early childhood.

Doris Baker

Associate Professor

Develops and evaluates interventions and assessments using technology to support the academic success of Latinx students and other students whose home language is not English.

Keffrelyn Brown

Professor, Program Advisor

Suzanne B. and John L. Adams Professor in Education

Creates scholarship based around teacher education, especially relating to race and culture.

Denise Davila

Assistant Professor

Studies children’s literature and researches the home literacy practices of families with young children in under-resourced communities.  

Noah De Lissovoy

Professor

Examines effects of race, class and capital in schools and society; investigates and extends traditions of critical pedagogy and philosophy.

Tracey Flores

Assistant Professor

Interests include family literacy, specifically family writing and practices for Latina mothers and daughters, as a springboard for advocacy and empowerment of families and teachers.

María Fránquiz

Professor

Examines ethnographic language and literacy practices in K-12 classrooms, specifically focusing on how Latinx critical race theory explains the relationship between heritage language and culture and the evolving identities of future teachers.

Carlos Nicolas Gomez

Assistant Professor

Investigates intersections of race, language and mathematics through the experiences of Latinx students learning and doing mathematics. 

María González-Howard

Assistant Professor

Research explores the intersections of multilingualism, scientific sensemaking, and teacher education, with a specific focus on the ways multilingual students engage in science practices through translanguaging.  

Joan Hughes

Associate Professor

Research focuses on school contexts and teacher knowledge and experiences that support the establishment of digital equity for learning in K-12 schools, classrooms, and communities. 

Grace MyHyun Kim

Assistant Professor

Studies literacy, language, and multicultural education, especially involving new media and globalization.

Min Liu

Professor

Designs and researches interactive learner-centered environments for all ages with emerging technologies; examines inequities in digital spaces and focuses on creating technology-enhanced learning opportunities for socioeconomically disadvantaged students.

Tia Madkins

Assistant Professor

Engages humanizing research approaches to examine equity-focused PK-16 STEM teaching and learning across urban contexts with a focus on Black girls.

Katherina A. Payne

Associate Professor

Researches civic education, early childhood/elementary education, and teacher education to examine the role of relationships, community, and justice to make classrooms democratic and equitable spaces.

Catherine Riegle-Crumb

Professor

Focuses on gender and racial/ethnic inequality in educational experiences and student achievement in STEM fields.

Cinthia Salinas

Professor

Ruben E. Hinojosa Regents Professor in Education

Research focuses on inclusive citizenship narratives in diverse, bilingual and/or ESL K-12 social studies classroom settings.

Victor Sampson

Associate Professor

Studies ways to make STEM learning experiences more equitable and inclusive, focusing on creating instructional materials that give learners more opportunities to participate. 

Allison Skerrett

Professor

Focuses on secondary English and literacy education in urban contexts, including among transnational youth.

Luis Urrieta, Jr.

Professor, Program Coordinator

Charles H. Spence, Sr. Centennial Professor in Education

Follows trends around cultural and racial identities, agency, migration, and social movements in education.

Melissa Wetzel

Professor & Department Chair

Focuses on how preservice teachers integrate critical literacy and culturally relevant practices into field-based literacy teaching.

Ricardo Ainslie

Professor

M. K. Hage Centennial Professorship in Education

Explores the intersection of psychology and culture through such topics as the psychological experience of immigration, ethnic conflicts and the impact of violence within communities, and the relationship between individual and collective identity.

Stephanie Cawthon

Professor, Graduate Advisor

Elizabeth Glenadine Gibb Teaching Fellowship in Education

Explores individual, school, community, and system level factors that affect education, employment, and quality of life outcomes for deaf and hard of hearing individuals.

Michael Parent

Associate Professor, Counseling Psychology Area Chair

Focuses on the intersections of gender, sexuality, and behavioral health in topics of men’s health, gender roles, and muscularity; conducts outreach with gender and sexual minority communities.

Erin Rodriguez

Associate Professor

Studies family, linguistic, and sociocultural influences on children’s adaptation to stress, to better understand how family coping, language and communication, and sociocultural context impact children’s mental and physical health outcomes.

Marie-Anne Suizzo

Associate Professor, HDCLS Area Chair

Research interests are centered around how parent-child relationships, parental involvement, and child socialization shape children’s and adolescents’ development and learning across cultures and ethnic groups.

Aileen Bumphus

Assistant Professor of Practice, Associate Vice President for Academic Diversity Initiatives in the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement

Research interests include educational leadership, emotional intelligence, and resiliency.

Norma Cantú, J.D.

Ken McIntyre Professor for Excellence in School Leadership

With a background as assistant secretary of education for Civil Rights in the Clinton Administration, she teaches topics in civil rights and the intersection of law and policy in education.

Joshua Childs

Assistant Professor

Examines collaborative approaches involving community organizations and stakeholders that improve academic achievement and reduce opportunity gaps for students.

Gerardo De Los Santos

Senior Fellow, Civitas Learning

Stella Flores

Associate Professor

Examines the effects of state and federal policies on college access and completion outcomes for low-income and underrepresented populations including immigrant and English Learner students.

Denisa Gándara

Assistant Professor

Explores higher education policy and finance, focusing on college access and success for populations historically underserved in higher education.

Carrie Lou Garberoglio

Assistant Professor of Practice

Serves as Co-Director of the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes, focused on dismantling systemic barriers in the transition period through high school and beyond that prevent deaf people from reaching their goals. 

Liliana Garces

Professor

Studies educational inequality, higher education equity and access policies for underrepresented populations, use and influence of research in Supreme Court cases. 

Michael Anthony Goodman

Assistant Professor of Practice

Focuses on student governance and involvement in the areas of college student government, sorority/fraternity life (SFL), equity and justice issues, experiences of new professionals, queer students, social justice, and social media in SFL, and bias-response in SFL.

Terrance Green

Associate Professor

Examines principals and school-community engagement/community development, and issues of educational equity and opportunity.

Jennifer Jellison Holme

Professor, Graduate Advisor

Focuses on the politics and implementation of educational policy with an emphasis on school reform, equity and diversity in schools.

Huriya Jabbar

Associate Professor, EPP Doctoral Program Coordinator

Examines the social and political dimensions of market-based reforms and privatization in education, including school choice and decision-making in K-12 and higher education contexts.

Michael Nava

Associate Professor of Practice, Faculty Director

Works in support of first-generation, low-income and underserved populations in the areas of student development, retention, academic support, assessment and advising.

Colette Pierce Burnette

Professor of Practice

Soncia Reagins-Lilly

Professor of Practice, Vice President for Student Affairs

Shares her expertise in higher education policy, administration and finance, strategic planning, and leadership development as the Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students.

Richard J. Reddick

Professor

Examines the experiences of faculty of color at predominantly White institutions; mentoring relationships between faculty and Black students; and work-life balance in academia.

Pedro Reyes

Ashbel Smith Professor of Education Policy

Focuses on school conditions that foster high academic success for children of poverty, stratification of learning opportunities for children of color, and on state policy that facilitates student success across the education pipeline.

Victor B. Sáenz

Professor & Department Chair

W. K. Kellogg Professor of Community College Leadership

Leads the Project MALES (Mentoring to Achieve Latino Educational Success Initiative focused on Latino males in education; seeks to advance research-informed policy solutions that enhance educational outcomes for underserved students in secondary and post-secondary education.

Lauren Schudde

Associate Professor

Studies the impact of educational policies and practices on college student outcomes using quantitative methods.

Betty Jeanne Taylor

Assistant Professor of Practice

Assistant Vice President, Division of Diversity and Community Engagement

Focuses on university-wide campus climate initiatives including bias incident reporting and response as well as implementing best practices for inclusive classroom climates and faculty recruitment and retention.

Angela Valenzuela

Professor

Specializes in urban education from a sociological and multicultural perspective, with a focus on minority youth in schools, particularly at the K-12 level.

Aaron Voyles

Assistant Professor of Practice

Serves as the Associate Director for Student Learning and Development and researches post-qualitative and post-structuralist methodologies, discourse analysis, and gender performance.

Darren Kelly

Assistant Professor of Instruction

Associate Vice President, Div. of Diversity & Community Engagement

Research focuses on race and sport, leadership, and community building via sport.

Lara Latimer

Assistant Professor of Instruction

Studies mental health, stress reduction, and tobacco prevention among college students.

Miguel Pinedo

Assistant Professor

Focuses on how migration-related factors contribute to health disparities related to substance abuse, HIV risk, and related harms among Latino populations in the United States and Mexico. 

North Cooc

Associate Professor

Explores how family background, culture, and school contextual factors influence decisions and trajectory outcomes within special education.

Natasha Strassfeld

Assistant Professor

Examines how law and policy shape special education service delivery, how racialized minority and ethnic students are (mis)identified for special education placements, and how special education is provided in the juvenile justice system.