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.
Collaborative Members
Collaborative members include those currently active graduate and undergraduate co-researchers.
My name is Maria Razo-Soto, I am a first-generation Latine graduate student attending Sacramento State. My current research interests are on the Latine students' racial and ethnic identity development and their experiences in higher education. My work as a Graduate Research Assistant has positively influenced me as a scholar in higher education. The impact we have made has allowed me to see the significance of research and how it leads to positive change to better serve our Latine students. My hope is to continue to see positive changes in higher education and prove that we have earned our place here.
Maria Razo-Soto
Graduate Research Assistant
Darlis (pronounced Dar-lease) is a first-generation graduate student in the Ph.D. program in Human Development and Family Science at the University of Connecticut (UConn) specializing in diversity and culture. Prior to joining UConn, she obtained an associate’s degree from a local community college and then her bachelor’s in psychology with a minor in sociology from the State University of New York at Purchase College. Broadly, her research interests include ethnic-racial and social identity development, parental socialization, parental beliefs on child development, and cultural adaptations of interventions. As a 2.5 generation American, she is very interested in the transmission of cultural beliefs. Her current projects are focused on program evaluation and related to her position at the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Before going back to school, Darlis worked in a variety of industry positions some of which were during her time living abroad in Brazil.
Darlis Juvino
Graduate Research Assistant
Noah S. Gomez is an undergraduate student in the College of Business at California State University, Sacramento. He is studying Accounting and plans to work toward his Certified Public Account certification after receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and aspires to work in the Internal Revenue Service. Gomez hails from Fresno County, CA, growing up in a Chicano household and is part of the second generation of his family to enroll in college. Gomez is a member of the LGBTQ+ community and sets to give his voice to this project, with respect to this component of his person. Gomez has a background in STEM, with Civil Engineering in mind, before transferring to business school and applying his background in research and development to this project. Gomez’s main goal for this project is to give a student’s voice into the project under the mentorship of Dr. Gonazlez and Dr. Ferreira van Leer. Gomez sets to engage in data analyses and overview this project as a compatriot of the millions of Latinx students on American campuses.
Noah S. Gomez
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Cordova is an undergraduate student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Connecticut, majoring in Latino and Latin American Studies. She plans to pursue a master's in teaching and aspires to work in community organizing before eventually becoming an immigration lawyer. Originally from New Haven, Connecticut, Cordova grew up in a Latine household and is a first-generation college student.
With a background in STEM—initially focusing on Physiology and Neurobiology—she later transitioned to Latino and Latin American Studies, applying her research and analytical skills as an undergraduate at a predominantly white institution (PWI). Through this project, Cordova aims to amplify student perspectives while honoring her community and future aspirations. Under the mentorship of Dr. Gonzalez and Dr. Ferreira van Leer, she engages with data and provides critical insights, positioning herself as a representative of the millions of Latine students navigating higher education.
Ammy M. Cordova
Undergraduate 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.
