Cinthya Salazar Headshot 1

Cinthya Salazar

3101C Moore Hall

Curriculum Vitae

Cinthya Salazar

Assistant Professor

Dr. Cinthya Salazar (ella/she) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education within UCLA’s School of Education & Information Studies. Prior to joining the UCLA faculty, she served as an Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration at Texas A&M University. She received her Ph.D. in Higher Education, Student Affairs, and International Education Policy at the University of Maryland in 2020. Dr. Salazar’s research focuses on the mechanisms used by undocumented students to access, persist, and succeed in higher education. She uses participatory action research and engages undocumented students as co-researchers to generate localized student success models that can promote their college retention. Dr. Salazar teaches undergraduate and graduate courses centering topics such as immigrant student experiences and needs, student development and engagement, qualitative research methodologies, and higher education and student affairs administration. Dr. Salazar’s research and pedagogy are informed by her former experiences as a higher education administrator and student affairs educator working with minoritized students in college access and retention programs for over 8 years.

Dr. Salazar has received numerous fellowships and awards including the Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship in 2019, the Bobby Wright Dissertation of the Year award conferred by the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) in 2020, the Early Career Scholar award presented by the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) in 2023, and the Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2023, among other distinctions. Her scholarship has been published in the Journal of Higher Education, the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, the Journal of Qualitative Research, and the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, among other outlets. Currently, Dr. Salazar is an active member of ASHE, serving as the co-chair for the Presidential Commission on Undocumented Immigrants. She also remains active in professional organizations and presently serves in the leadership team of the Undocumented Immigrants and Allies Knowledge Community (UIAKC) within NASPA.

Departments

Programs

Academic Advising Specializations

Interests

Expertise

Titles and Positions

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Education

Awards, Honors and Fellowships

  • 2023 – Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
    Ford Foundation
  • 2023 – Early Career Scholar Award
    American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE)
  • 2022 – Best Scholarly Paper Award
    American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE)
  • 2022 – Dissertation of the Year Action Research Special Interest Group (SIG)
    American Educational Research Association (AERA)
  • 2021 – Faculty Fellowship Program
    American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE)
  • 2020 – Bobby Wright Dissertation of the Year Award
    Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)
  • 2019 – Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship
    Ford Foundation
  • 2019 – Intersectional Qualitative Research Methods Institute for Advanced Doctoral Students Fellowship
    University of Texas at Austin
  • 2018 – Institute for Community Engaged Research Fellowship
    Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park, 2020
  • M.S., Florida International University, Miami, 2012
  • B.S., Florida International University, Miami, 2008
  • A.A., Miami Dade Community College, Miami, 2005

Select Publications

  • Salazar, C., Barahona, C., & Yepez-Coello, F. (in press). Where do I go from here? Examining the transition of undocumented students graduating from college. The Journal of Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2023.2270105
  • Salazar, C., Alderete Puig, P., Morales Rojas, P., Zúñiga, A. J. (in press). Undocufriendly ≠ undocuserving: Undocumented students’ perceptions of institutional support. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000459
  • Salazar, C., Giles, K. S., Ackerman, J. R., (in press). Empowered and educated: How an immigration service-learning course influenced students’ paths toward critical consciousness. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 09518398.2023.2181447
  • Salazar, C., Liwanag, A. M., Zheng, J., & Park, J. J. (in press). Marginality and mattering: Inequality in STEM majors’ relationships with higher education practitioners. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000440
  • Salazar, C. (2024). “I knew it was gonna be hard, but I always knew I had support from my parents”: The role of family on undocumented students’ college aspirations and persistence. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 25(4), 703-725. https:// doi.org/10.1177/15210251211018826
  • Peña, E. & Salazar, C. (2023). El tapiz de identitades: Counterstories of Latinx working-learner re-entry students at a community college. New Directions in Adult and Continuing Education, 2023(179), 27-2-39. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.20500
  • Salazar, C., Barahona, C., Romero Viruel, A., Velasco Zuñiga, J., Palma, B., Meza, K. J., & Moreno, R. (2023). Research collectives with, for, and by undocumented scholars: Creating counterspaces for revelation, validation, resistance, empowerment, and liberation in higher education. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 22(2), 161-174. https://doi.org/10.1177/15381927221111869
  • Salazar, C. (2022). Participatory action research with & for undocumented college students: Ethical challenges and methodological opportunities. Qualitative Research, 22(3), 369-386. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794120985689
  • Salazar, C. (2021). We are friends? Navigating relationships with undocumented college students as co-researchers in participatory action research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 34(8), 715-732. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2021.1956622
  • Salazar, C., Park, J. J., & Parikh, R. M. (2020). STEM student-faculty relationships: The influence of race and gender on access to career-related opportunities. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 26(5), 413-446. 10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2020031959