Our Research Team
Dra. Susana Muñoz, Ph.D, principal investigator, and Elena Calderon, graduate assistant, are committed to work that centers undocumented and DACA students. Both have dedicated their professional careers towards expanding opportunities for immigrant communities.
About
Susana Muñoz, Ph.D
Dr. Susana M. Muñoz is Associate Professor in the Higher Education Leadership (HEL) Program, in the School of Education at Colorado State University (CSU). Her scholarly interests center on the experiences of minoritized populations in higher education. Specifically, she focuses her research on issues of equity, identity, and campus climate for undocumented Latinx students while employing perspectives such as legal violence, racist nativism, Chicana feminist epistemology to identify and dismantle power, oppression, and inequities experienced by these populations. She utilizes multiple research methods to examine these matters with the goal of informing immigration policy and higher education practices. Dr. Muñoz has been honored by the White House Initiative for Educational Excellence for Hispanics for her teaching and research, she was also recognized as a Salzburg Global Fellow and named one of the “top 25 most influential women in higher education” by Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine. Recently, she received the Robert H. Shaffer Award for Academic Excellence as a Graduate Faculty Member from the National Association for Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). She also brings 13 years of student affairs experience in multicultural affairs, greek life, diversity and leadership training, TRiO programs, and residence life.
Dr. Muñoz received a B.A. in Political Science and International Studies from Iowa State University, a M.S. in Student Affairs and Higher Education from Colorado State University, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Iowa State University. Her dissertation, entitled “Understanding college persistence issues for undocumented Mexican immigrant women from the New Latino Diaspora: A case study”, was funded through the Association for the Study of Higher Education/Lumina Foundation dissertation fellowship. She also received the Iowa State Research Excellence Award for her dissertation research.
About
Elena Calderon, MSC
Elena Calderon is a first-generation Latina college graduate and higher education professional. She was born in Mexico, raised in Washington State, and currently call Arizona home. Her passions include promoting higher education, advocating for undocumented students and individuals, and working one-on-one with students to make sure they are successful. Her immigrant background and experience of growing up undocumented informs her approach of working with minoritized Latinx students, and centering undocumented students within her research.
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Elena holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Community Health, and a Master of Science degree in Communication Studies, both earned from Eastern Washington University.
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Currently Elena is a student in the Higher Education PhD program at The University of Arizona. Her academic interests are based on using arts-based research methods such as collage, poems, and narratives to highlight agency, familismo, and dichos within undocumented students' experiences of navigating higher education. She will utilize research findings to effect change on college campuses and assure that all students, regardless of legal status, can succeed & feel included.
