Research interests

I am originally from El Paso, Texas, and came to Ames in 2016 by way of San Antonio, Texas. I completed my Ed.D. at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) in Educational Leadership in 2015. My dissertation, entitled “’What’s Expected of Us as We Integrate Reading and Writing?’: Constructing Developmental Education at a Hispanic-Serving Community College” received the Dissertation of the Year Award from the Council for the Study of Community Colleges in 2016. As a doctoral student, I participated in the AAHHE Graduate Student Fellows Program (2015) and the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division J Emerging Scholars program (2014, 2016). I also received a Graduate Fellowship Award from the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education (TACHE). In 2020, I was named a Faculty Fellow by the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE).

My prior professional experience in higher education includes 8 years in academic affairs as a Student Development Specialist at UTSA. In this role, I supported master’s and doctoral students across education fields. As a student, I also worked as a Supplemental Instruction Leader, an Orientation Leader, and as the Assistant to the Curator of the UTSA Art Collection. I also taught as an Adjunct Instructor of History at Northeast Lakeview College in Live Oak, Texas, for approximately 5 years, a position that was hugely influential in my decision to focus my scholarship on community colleges and teaching.

My research agenda encompasses three areas:  Latinx community college students, especially those placed in developmental education; the faculty who teach these students; and the Hispanic-Serving and Hispanic-enrolling institutions where these students attend. I utlize a number of qualitative approaches, including case study methodology, interview-based research, document analysis, and historical methods. My work has been published in The Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, Journal of Latinos and Education, and The Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. I also hold a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts, both in History, from UTSA.