Dr. Marcela G. Cuellar
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Dr. Marcela G. Cuellar is an associate professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Davis. Her research examines Latinx/a/o student experiences and outcomes at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and emerging HSIs, campus climate, and community college baccalaureates. She is currently a co-PI on a research project examining the unique role of R1 HSIs, especially within the University of California and a collaborator on a project examining the development and implementation of community college baccalaureate programs in California community colleges. Her scholarship has been published in the American Journal of Education, Community College Review, Journal of Higher Education, and Review of Higher Education.

Dr. Cuellar holds a BA in Psychology and Spanish from Stanford University, a MA in Higher Education Leadership from the University of San Diego, and a PhD in Education (Higher Education and Organizational Change) from the University of California, Los Angeles. Originally from Oxnard, California, she is the proud daughter of Mexican immigrants.
 

Dr. Gina Ann Garcia
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Dr. Gina Ann Garcia is a professor in the School of Education at UC Berkeley. Her research centers on issues of equity and justice in higher education with an emphasis on understanding how Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) embrace and enact an organizational identity for serving minoritized populations. She explores the experiences of administrators, faculty, and staff at HSIs and the outcomes of students attending these institutions. As an equity-minded scholar, she tends to the ways that race and racism have shaped institutions of higher education.

Dr. Garcia is the author of Becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Opportunities for Colleges & Universities for which she won the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education Book of the Year Award in 2020 and the editor of the book Hispanic-Serving Institutions in Practice: Defining “Servingness” at HSIs. Her newest book, Transforming Hispanic Serving Institutions for Equity and Justice was released in Spring 2023 and is now available.

She has delivered over 150 public lectures and workshops across the country and consults directly with HSIs to work towards organizational transformation. She is also the host of the popular podcast ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? and founded the Cal HSI Center which advances HSI research that informs practice and policy.

Dr. Garcia graduated from California State University, Northridge with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, the University of Maryland, College Park with a master’s degree in college student personnel, and the University of California, Los Angeles with a Ph.D. in higher education and organizational change. She is a proud alumna of a HSI and was a Title V Coordinator at Cal State University, Fullerton which drives and motivates her research and praxis.
 

Dr. Rebecca Covarrubias
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Dr. Rebecca Covarrubiasis an associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research examines how institutional structures and practices systematically and persistently marginalize the complex and dynamic ways of being and knowing of students and their families, staff, and faculty. She aims to understand the holistic impact of this marginalization, and how groups navigate and resist this marginalization to transform institutional spaces and relationships. She collaborates with diverse partners (students, staff, faculty) to develop actionable practices to shift the culture of institutions and help students thrive. Her interdisciplinary scholarship has been published in diverse outlets, including Journal of Diversity of Higher Education, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Perspectives on Psychological Science, and Child Development.

A proud first-generation college graduate, Dr. Covarrubias earned her bachelor’s degree in family studies and human development at The University of Arizona, where she also a Ronald E. McNair Achievement Scholar. She continued at The University of Arizona to earn a master’s degree and doctorate in social psychology. After graduating, she taught several psychology courses in Orvieto, Italy through the Arizona in Italy Study Abroad Program. Dr. Covarrubias then became a University Diversity Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow for the Center of the Study of Diversity and the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Delaware. She joined the Department of Psychology at UC Santa Cruz in fall 2015.
 

Esteban Alcalá
Esteban Alcalá (El, He, Him) joined UC Davis on October 2023 as the HSI Research Colectiva Program Coordinator. He is also a fourth-year Ph.D. student at the University of Pittsburgh where he focuses on Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Transfronterize/Transborder students, community colleges, and social justice in higher education. Esteban is a first-generation transfronterizo scholar-practitioner. He holds a BA in Psychology from UC San Diego, a M.Ed. from the University of Southern California, and is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. Higher Education Program at the University of Pittsburgh.

Colectiva Members

Dr. Stephanie Aguilar-Smith is an Assistant Professor of Counseling and Higher Education at the University of North Texas (UNT). She earned her Ph.D. in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education and graduate certificate in Chicano and Latino Studies from Michigan State University. She holds a Master’s in Public Administration, a B.A. in Journalism (Public Relations), a B.A. in International Affairs, and minor in Spanish from the University of Georgia. Considering the evolving postsecondary landscape, Dr. Aguilar-Smith broadly considers how policies might be more equitable across the stratified and hierarchical system of U.S. higher education. With this in mind, she situates herself as a critical organizational scholar who uses qualitative and quantitative methods to examine public and institutional-level policies toward advancing equity and justice across higher education, but especially within and among Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). In particular, much of her recent work has focused on Title V—competitive federal grants for HSIs. Before joining UNT, Dr. Aguilar-Smith worked at several universities in various areas including enrollment management, academic counseling, program development, and writing center administration. Beyond her professional background, she is the youngest child of a large Venezuelan family, a sleepy-eyed mom, a wife, and a lifelong champion of Latinx uplift.
 

Dr. Alicia Bencomo Garcia is an Ethnic Studies faculty at Cabrillo College. She serves on the HSI Leadership Team and is working on developing curriculum and establishing the Ethnic Studies Department at Cabrillo. Her research analyzes the organizational structures, such as academic policies, at HSIs and their impact on servingness. Dr. Bencomo Garcia earned her Ph.D. in Education at UC Davis and a M.A. degree in Mexican American Studies from San Jose State University.


 

Isabella (Bella) Cantu is currently a 2nd year Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology. She received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from CSU San Bernardino and will earn her master’s degree from UC Davis this spring. Isabella’s research examines students’ educational pathways from K-12 to higher education and disparities in access and attainment of postsecondary education. She is particularly interested in how Latinx/e students’ life and K-12 academic experiences affect their postsecondary decisions. Growing up in the IE (Inland Empire region of Southern California) and attending an HSI for her undergraduate degree, Isabella attributes her research motivation to the communities she is from.
 

Kristine Jan Cruz Espinoza is a Pinay Ph.D. Candidate studying Higher Education and completing a graduate certificate in Program Evaluation and Assessment at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her research interests revolve around race-based higher education policies, currently focusing on Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs; e.g., dual- and multiple-designated Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)) and federal racial data categorization and collection. Before doctoral study, Kristine worked full-time as the Student Affairs Officer in the UCLA Asian American Studies Department. Raised in the South Bay of Los Angeles (Carson, California), she was a community college transfer student from Long Beach City College to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where she earned her B.A. in Biology, B.A. in Anthropology, and M.Ed. in Educational Administration.
 

Amber Gonzalez, Ph.D. is a tenured Professor in the Child and Adolescent Development (CHAD) program at California State University, Sacramento. Using participatory action research and mixed methods, her scholarly activities focus on exploring the influence of social support networks and institutional structures on Latine college student identity development and educational and career aspirations and motivations. In addition, she explores the ways in which students use these aspirations and motivations to ensure their success, manage failure, and persist. Her scholarly work has been published in the Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, Journal of Educational Research, and College Student Journal. In addition to her scholarly activities, she serves as an academic advisor to students of color and faculty advisor to multiple Latine student organizations. In addition to her engagement with students, she serves as an active member of the Faculty Senate at Sacramento State and has led efforts in creating programming to support and retain faculty of color. Through her multiple roles on campus, she has collaborated with various university stakeholders to address inequities within campus policies, programming, and practices. Her institutional and community service and leadership activities center on advocating for equity and social justice for students and faculty of color.
 

Felisha Herrera Villarreal, Ph.D. is Director of the Research & Equity Scholarship Institute and Professor at San Diego State University. She is a Presidential Research Faculty Fellow, a widely published scholar, and has procured over $14 million in funding to support her research. As a nationally recognized expert in STEM education, she serves as principal investigator for several large-scale, National Science Foundation funded research projects, including ED-SYSTEMS (NSF DUE-1644990) and HSI-STEM (NSF DUE-1832528) investigating the role of community colleges and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and as Co-PI for ADAPT: A Pedagogical Decision-Making Study (NSF HRD-1759947) and NSF INCLUDES Alliance: ALRISE – Accelerate Latinx Representation In STEM Education with Institutional Intentionality and Capacity Building for Experiential Learning (NSF HRD-2120021). To inform system-wide change, her research employs advanced statistical techniques to examine contextual factors—institutional (structure, process, and policy), geographic, demographic, political and economic contexts—that impact postsecondary outcomes. Her research featured in the field’s top-tier, peer-reviewed. Her scholarship focuses on minoritized and underrepresented students in STEM and policy issues related to diversity and equity. Her work is enhanced by over two decades of experience as a higher education professional in two- and four-year minority-serving institutions.
 

Ruth M. López, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in Educational Leadership and Policy in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Practice at The University of Arizona College of Education. She earned B.A.s in Mexican American Studies and Spanish at The University of Texas at Austin, and PhD in Educational Foundations, Policy, and Practice at the University of Colorado Boulder. She was previously a Senior Research Associate at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, and an Assistant Professor at the University of Houston. Prior to earning her PhD, she was a college outreach counselor in Houston through the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at UT-Austin, and a program coordinator of the Colorado Diversity Initiative at CU-Boulder. Dr. López’s research addresses the social and political contexts that students of color navigate across K-12 schools. Her work examines 1) the intersections of education and immigration policies, 2) college access for Latinx and undocumented students, 3) the experiences of Latinas at Hispanic Serving Institutions. Dr. López’s commitment to educational equity and college access is informed by her multiple identities as the daughter of immigrants from El Salvador and Mexico, first-generation college student/graduate, and mother scholar.
 

Stephanie Luna-Lopez is a Ph.D. student at the UC Davis School of Education studying School Organization and Educational Policy with a designated emphasis in Computational Social Science. Her research interests include college aspirations, access to higher education information, college choice, and social networks. Stephanie’s research is currently focused on the experiences of first-generation students and rural communities. Stephanie is a Central Valley native and holds a bachelor’s degree in Ethnic Studies with a double minor in Education and Public Policy from UC Berkeley and a master’s degree in Social Science from UCLA.

 

Audrey D. Paredes, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of educational leadership and administration in the School of Education at California State University, San Marcos (CSUSM). Her role as a teacher-scholar is informed by her positionality as the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, first-generation college student, and a former college student affairs practitioner. As an interdisciplinary scholar, Dr. Paredes’ broader research agenda utilizes critical approaches to understand and conceptualize the ways in which institutions of higher education, specifically Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), can be sites of transformation so that systemically marginalized communities can thrive. Currently, her research focuses on responding to the heterogeneity of the Latina/o/x college student population within the context of federally designated Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) by way of examining the lived experiences of Central American undergraduates. Dr. Paredes’ has expertise in anti-racist and decolonial theories such as Critical Race Theory and Chicana/Latina Feminist Theories as well as, Chicana/Latina Feminista qualitative methodologies. Prior to joining CSUSM, she was a post-doctoral scholar at UCLA, the lead project manager for the University of California’s Hispanic Serving Institutions (UC-HSI) Initiative, a consultant for the UC Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) working group, and a research associate for the Center for Critical Race Studies in Education at UCLA. Dr. Paredes earned her Ph.D. in education with a specialization in race and ethnic studies at the UCLA, MA in education at UCLA, and BA in Gender, Ethnicity, and Multicultural Studies (concentration in Chicana/o Studies) from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
 

Gaby Perez, is a current PhD student in the School of Education at the University of California, Davis. Born and raised in San Francisco, her research interests examine the educational journeys of Latinx students from urban environments. During her free time (often limited) she enjoys creating art in different mediums, but has recently been focusing on making her own Loteria game.



 

Katherine Quinteros (she/her/ella) is a doctoral student in social psychology at UC Santa Cruz. She aims to create and support social change efforts with an action-oriented research agenda. Her research interests focus on understanding how minoritized students and faculty navigate and resist dominant cultural practices within higher education institutions.



 

Nathaly Santos is a doctoral student within the Policy, Politics, and Leadership cluster at the Berkeley School of Education. Her broad research interests include equity and justice in higher education through an organizational lens, with a more specific focus on the Latinx student experience and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). These days, Nathaly is interested in exploring how individual and institutional factors can affect Latinx and minoritized student outcomes, as well as how those factors influence systemic policies and practices that seek to advance student success rates and mitigate the effects of institutional oppression. Alongside her advisor, Dr. Gina Garcia, she studies the ways in which predominantly white institutions adopt an HSI identity. Prior to her arrival at UC Berkeley, Nathaly earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology & Philosophy, as well as a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology all from the University of Virginia. She is the daughter of two immigrant parents and the first in her family to attend a four-year university and graduate school.
 

Cynthia D. Villarreal is an Assistant Professor at Northern Arizona University in Educational Leadership. She holds a Ph.D. in Urban Education Policy from the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. She is a fronteriza from El Paso, Texas studying the borderlands of higher education, Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), organizational culture, equity in decision-making, and Chicana feminisms in higher education. As a qualitative researcher and creative non-fiction writer, Dr. Villarreal believes in the importance of sharing countertestimonios to critique and transform higher education. She uses interdisciplinary theories and research to inform her approach to the study of HSIs and how they serve their Latine students by interrogating the policies, structures, and culture within colleges and universities. She is also a Racial Equity Coach for the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center providing support to community colleges navigating racial equity change projects on campus. She is a mamischolar living in the Sonoran Desert (Phoenix, Arizona) with her two children and husband.
 

Marialexia Zaragoza was born and raised in the Inland Empire, and is the daughter of immigrant parents from Jalisco and Michoacán, Mexico; she is a sister, a TiaNina, and an advocate for her Latine comunidades. As a first-generation and low-income student, her identities and experiences impact her practitioner and scholarly works. Marialexia earned a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology with a minor in Chicana/o studies from California State University, Fullerton, where she was also a McNair Scholar. She is currently a Ph.D. student in the Higher Education program at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on understanding how Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) can better serve their students through their implementation of High Impact Learning Practices, as well as analyzing the ways in which Latine students change, create, and influence institutional policy. Additionally, Marialexia currently serves as the Project Analyst for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Hispanic Serving Institution initiative.

UC Davis Undergraduate Research Team

My name is Nadia Gonzales, and I’m an undergraduate student studying Sociology with an emphasis in Social Work and Education here at UC Davis. I’m from Hollister, CA and just transferred to UC Davis from Cabrillo Community College this last Fall of 2023. In the past, my work in education has been primarily focused on working with students with special needs. After moving to Davis, I was searching for resources on campus that served Chicano students like myself. Simultaneously, I had taken an Issues in Higher Education class and became invested in how institutions serve their Hispanic student populations.

 

Hola, my name is Jennifer Ramirez Espinola. I am from Monterey, CA and am currently finishing up my B.A. degrees in Chicanx Studies and in Sociology. I will be graduating in June! During my time at UC Davis, I became an Academic Community Counselor (peer advisor) in the Chicanx Studies department and have become especially interested in higher education through a Chicanx/Latinx lens. I am also an intern at Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer (TANA) where I silkscreen print and help others learn this art form. After graduation, I plan on acquiring a job working with comunidad and later plan on pursuing graduate studies.

 

Hello, my name is Christian Velasquez. I transferred from Mt. San Antonio College in SoCal, I am a third-year Psychology major with an Education minor. I am working at the Transfer Opportunity Program, here at UC Davis, helping community college students transfer. I was first introduced to the term HSI in my community college, El Centro. I learned a whole lot about what it means and a lot of the background once I took Issues in Higher Education class here at UC Davis. I am definitely excited and hopeful to see where the HSI narrative goes.