Dr. Vega received her B.A. in Psychology from Binghamton University-State University of New York (SUNY) and both her M.A. and doctorate in School Psychology from The Ohio State University. She completed her pre-doctoral internship in the Omaha Public Schools (OPS) district through the Nebraska Internship Consortium in Professional Psychology, an APA accredited and APPIC approved internship program. Dr. Vega worked as a bilingual school psychologist at OPS from 2010-2013. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Arizona, she was a faculty member in the School Psychology program at Texas State University from 2013-2016.
Dr. Vega’s research focuses on three primary areas: 1) The assessment of culturally and linguistically diverse students, including utilizing best practices and training culturally competent school psychologists; 2) Identification of the significant factors, which contribute to the academic success of African American and Latino youth in the K-12 pipeline (i.e., culturally responsive intervention and instructional practices); and 3) Access to higher education among urban youth, including the role of school psychologists in the transition from high school to college. Dr. Vega also focuses on the training of bilingual school psychologists and served as a co-principal investigator on the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education, $1.03 million, 5-year grant at Texas State University.
For more infomation about my research, visit my research website: http://desireevega.weebly.com
