Collaborative Team
The Using Our Voices to Transform HSIs Collaborative is led by Dr. Amber Gonzalez at California State University, Sacramento (Sac State) and Dr. Kevin Ferreira van Leer at the University of Connecticut (UConn).
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The collaborative is made up of graduate, and undergraduate co-researchers. See current collaborative members below.
Amber Gonzalez
Collaborative Lead
Kevin Ferreira van Leer
Collaborative Lead
Amber Gonzalez, Ph.D. is a tenured Professor in the Child and Adolescent Development (CHAD) program at California State University, Sacramento. Using mixed methodologies, her scholarly activities focus on exploring the influence of social support networks and institutional structures on Latine college student identity development and educational and career aspirations and motivations. In addition, she explores the ways in which students use these aspirations and motivations to ensure their success, manage failure, and persist. Her scholarly work has been published in the Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, Journal of Educational Research, and College Student Journal. In addition to her scholarly activities, she serves as an academic advisor to students of color and faculty advisor to multiple Latine student organizations. In addition to her engagement with students, she has led efforts in creating programming to support and retain faculty of color and has collaborated with various university stakeholders to address inequities within campus policies, programming, and practices. Her institutional and community service and leadership activities center on advocating for equity and social justice for students and faculty of color.
Kevin Ferreira van Leer, Ph.D., PI, is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Connecticut. He grew up in New Jersey, the first born in the U.S. from Portuguese and Colombian immigrant families. His research examines the educational and policy contexts that promote positive development and liberation for immigrants and their families. He largely utilizes community-engaged and mixed methods research, collaborating directly with immigrant communities to develop research projects around their concerns and build their capacity to conduct research themselves. This work is shared with scholarly communities in academic journals, webinars, and conferences, with immigrant communities themselves through photos, infographics and popular education materials, and with policy makers through briefs. He has conducted participatory action research projects with communities in California, the New England area and Guatemala. Previous community-engaged research projects he has co-led have been funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and the College Futures Foundation. A scholar-activist, Kevin has been sought out for supporting institutions in addressing the ways that policy and practice create, and perpetuate, inequity for people of color. For instance, he serves as a member of the United World College (UWC) Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Steering Group, a committee of the UWC International Board, the governing body of the 18 schools on four continents with over 60,000 alumni from over 150 countries.
Maria Razo-Soto
Graduate Research Assistant
Alumni Advisors
The alumni advisors to the Collaborative include former undergraduate student co-researchers. Below are those of us who are currently active as advisors for the collaborative.
