Student - College of Education

Nicole Ngaosi is currently a doctoral candidate in the Program in Higher Education Leadership at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin. Ngaosi's research interests focus on the intersections between shared governance, diversity initiatives, and institutional partnerships to enact organizational change. Her interests are largely informed by her personal and professional experiences working in Student Affairs, as well as her previous assistantships with Dr. Liliana Garcesin examining how external pressures can shape postsecondary institutions' commitments to racial equity work, and Dr. Victor Sáenzin supporting the College of Education's Student Success, Community Engagement, and Administration.

Prior to attending UT, Ngaosi dedicated her full-time Student Affairs professional roles to supporting student retention at UCLA. At the UCLA Community Programs Office, the campus multicultural center, her portfolio oversaw a portion of the university's basic needs operations as well as its unique readmission pipeline program and affinity-based peer counseling efforts. Her work drew heavily on her background as a student organizer and her service on various university and systemwide committees.

A former community college transfer from Santa Monica College, Ngaosi obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Asian American Studies, Master of Arts in Asian American Studies, and Master of Social Welfare from UCLA.

Pedota, J., Garces, L., Bentley Epstein, E., Ngaosi, N. & Khalayleh, N. (2025). Were on Our Own Out Here: Faculty Member Responses to Legislative Threats to Academic Freedom and Scholarship on Race. The Journal of Higher Education, 1–28. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2025.2461986.

Ngaosi, N. & Garces, L. (2024). A Call to Counter Repressive Legalism: Addressing the Implications of SFFA v. Harvard. Journal of College Student Development, 65(3), 331–334. doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/csd.2024.a929248.

Epstein, E., Ngaosi, N., Khalayleh, N., Pedota, J. & Garces, L. (2024). Beyond Legal Constraints: Understanding Barriers to Humanizing Responses in the Aftermath of Hate Speech at Private Universities. Education Sciences, 12(2). doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14020175.

Nguyen, M., Ngaosi, N., Lee, D., Garces, L., Wong, J., Poon, O., Martinez Morales, E., Dudowitz, S. & Woofter, D. (2023). Racial Stereotypes About Asian Americans and the Challenge to RaceConscious Admissions in SFFA v. Harvard. Journal of College and University Law, 48(2), 369–394. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED645059.pdf.

Whats next on the chopping block?: Diversity courses and faculty perspectives on anti-DEI legislation, Association for the Study of Higher Education, Minneapolis, MN (2024)

Promising strategies to affirm and uphold inclusion efforts amid external pressures, Texas Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, Austin, TX (2024)

Racial stereotypes about Asian Americans and the challenge to race-conscious admissions in SFFA v. Harvard, American Education Research Association, Philadelphia, PA (2024)

Faculty responses to law-based threats targeting academic freedom and racial inclusion, Association for the Study of Higher Education, Minneapolis, MN (2023)