Denisa Gándara serves as an associate professor of educational leadership and policy at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research, primarily focusing on higher education policy and politics, is dedicated to advancing populations traditionally underserved in higher education. Her work, which has informed national conversations on higher education policy, has been supported by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, the Ford Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, and the American Educational Research Association.
She was appointed by President Joe Biden to the National Board for Education Sciences and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Through these roles, she contributes to advancing research-policy connections.
She is the recipient of notable honors, such as a William T. Grant Scholar award and a Ford Foundation Fellowship. In 2024, she received the Association for the Study of Higher Education's CPPHE Excellence in Public Policy Higher Education Award. The following year, she and her co-authors were honored with the American Educational Research Association's Palmer O. Johnson Memorial Award in recognition of the most outstanding article published in an AERA journal the previous year.
She serves as associate editor for The Journal of Higher Education and sits on the editorial boards of the Journal of Postsecondary Student Success and Higher Education Policy.
A Dean's Distinguished Graduate from The University of Texas at Austin, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of Georgia's Institute of Higher Education. Her upbringing in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas continues to inspire her dedication to expanding educational opportunities for underserved communities.
Ph.D. in Higher Education, The University of Georgia, 2016
B.A. in Philosophy, Psychology Minor Spanish, Linguistics Minor, The University of Texas at Austin, 2011
Higher education policy, politics, and finance with a focus on serving historically underserved groups
Editorial Board Member, Higher Education Policy, (2024)
Secretary, Institute for Higher Education Policy, (2024)
Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, National Board for Education Sciences, (2022 - 2025)
Associate Editor, The Journal of Higher Education, (2021)
Editorial Board Member, Journal of Postsecondary Student Success, (2020)
Palmer O. Johnson Memorial Award Recipient in recognition of the most outstanding article published in an AERA journal in 2024, American Educational Research Association (2025)
Council on Public Policy in Higher Education Excellence in Public Policy Higher Education Award Recipient, Association for the Study of Higher Education (2024)
Public Voices Fellow, The OpEd Project (2022)
Dean's Distinguished Early Career Award, The University of Texas at Austin's College of Education (2022)
Scholar, William T. Grant Scholars Program (2021)
Julio J Mena Bernal, Ph.D., expected 2027 (Supervisor)Urban Education, Race and Ethnicity, Critical frameworks and methodologies, School Finance & Poverty, Critical Educational Policy, Students of Color College Access and Success, Undocumented Students, Community Colleges, School Social Stratification and Segregation,
Armando Lizarraga, Ph.D., expected 2026 (Co-supervisor)postsecondary education programs in correctional facilities; carcerality, higher education in carceral facilities; incarcerated students; formerly incarcerated students; financial aid access; community colleges; transfer students; fem/mentoring
Alexis D George (Supervisor)Politicization of higher education, higher education policy, legislative impact on higher education, politics, civic engagement, education and democracy, academic freedom
Natosha Daniels (Committee Member)Natosha has two decades of PK-20 public eduction experience. Her research interests are rooted in collective grassroots organizing and Black parent movements that shift power structures within the education system. She is a community-led research scholar whose participatory action research dissertation explores how Black parents are negotiating the current educational landscape outside of traditional economics of choice frameworks. Heavily inspired by African American and Diasporic Studies as well as Anthropology, she believes in interdisciplinary methodologies...
Courses by year and semester| Year | Semester | Course |
|---|
| 2024 | Spring | ELP 391P: Quant Rsch Design/Analysis |
| 2024 | Spring | ELP 395S: Systems Of Higher Edu |
| 2023 | Spring | ELP 391P: Quant Rsch Design/Analysis |
| 2022 | Spring | ELP 391P: Quant Rsch Design/Analysis |
| 2022 | Spring | ELP 395S: Systems Of Higher Edu |
