Elvira Abrica, assistant professor in Educational Administration, was named a faculty fellow of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education at AAHHE's annual conference last weekend in Irvine, California.
The honor is reserved for non-tenured faculty in their first three years who have demonstrated an ability to contribute to a defined area of scholarship and the enhancement of Latina/os in higher education. Abrica's research is focused on race, ethnicity and migrant status across contexts of community colleges; science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields; and institutional research and assessment.
"This award is important to me because it comes from an organization dedicated to supporting educational opportunities for Hispanic students in post-secondary education," said Abrica. "This fellowship opportunity allowed me to attend the AAHHE conference and to network with a community of scholars, practitioners, and business leaders so that we can put our collective energy toward finding solutions to complex problems stemming from broader social inequities. This fellowship is not about recognizing me or my work; It is about using my degree and credentials to serve as a platform to meaningfully effect social change. I must speak for those who are unheard, unseen, and uncredentialed as of yet."