Cinthya Salazar

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.