Higher education policy · Racial equity
Confronting the policies and practices that limit equity in postsecondary education.
I am an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University's Bush School of Government and Public Service and, for 2026–27, a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University.
Published in AERA Open · Journal of Higher Education · Race Ethnicity and Education · Public Management Review
Funded by William T. Grant Foundation · J-PAL · Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
Research
Four connected lines of work, each funded and published across education, policy, and public management.
Refugee and Displaced Learners
How refugees, asylees, and TPS holders navigate resettlement and higher education policy on the way to college.
Explore this project →Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions
Colleges where 15–24% of students are Latine, and how they build servingness as they grow.
Explore this project →Afro-Latin Americans in Higher Education
How Afro-Latin American students are seen, counted, and served, and how place shapes their belonging.
Explore this project →Institutional Discourse and Racial Equity
How DEI plans, diversity statements, and board decisions frame race, and what that framing makes possible.
Explore this project →Recent publications
All publications →Research in practice
All practice and public work →I partner with resettlement agencies, college leaders, and national networks so that research reaches the people shaping students' pathways.
Community partnership
Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area
Our community research report led the agency to add higher education information to refugee onboarding.
Learn more →National trainings
Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration
Trainings and a community of practice for college leaders supporting displaced learners, 2024–2025.
Learn more →Public scholarship
Higher education can be elusive for asylum-seekers and immigrants
The Conversation, 2023
Read the article →Teaching
My teaching philosophy is rooted in preparing students to critically engage with complex educational issues while equipping them to collaborate constructively across difference. I view the classroom as a communal space where knowledge is co-constructed through inclusive practices.
“Thank you for fostering a supportive and safe space. Your class is the reason I have developed a passion for educational policy.”
Student evaluation
“My favorite classroom environment of all. I felt safe, I felt visible.”
Student evaluation