Teresita Martinez
Ph.D. Student - School Organization and Educational Policy
Teresita Martinez is a first-year Ph.D. student in the School Organization and Education Policy program and a graduate student researcher in the California Education Lab and the Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and Research at the University of California, Davis. She holds a MA in Economics and Education with an emphasis in Education Policy from Teachers College, Columbia University, a BA in economics and a minor in education from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Graduate Certificate in Applied Policy and Government from Sacramento State.
Teresita is committed to interrogating structures and systems in the local and state governments that result in persistent underinvestment of marginalized communities. At the Community College Research Center (CCRC), Teresita critically evaluated the California budget preparation process to investigate the aspects of the process that disadvantage the California Community College system, which serves predominantly minoritized student populations. As a postsecondary education fellow at HCM Strategists, Teresita analyzed the University of Hawaii’s (UH) system-level and campus-level financial aid policies and financial aid data with the HCM Strategy Labs team in order to inform the UH Office of the President’s efforts to create an equitable financial aid system. Prior to joining CCRC, Teresita was an executive fellow at the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC), where she used the state agency’s data and resources to highlight the unique barriers that undocumented students face in the California financial aid system.
