Ruth M. López, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in Educational Leadership and Policy in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Practice at the University of Arizona College of Education. She earned B.A.s in Mexican American Studies and Spanish at The University of Texas at Austin, and her PhD in Educational Foundations, Policy, and Practice at the University of Colorado Boulder where she was an Ofelia Miramontes Scholar and a recipient of the AERA Minority Dissertation Fellowship. She was previously a Senior Research Associate at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University and an Assistant Professor at the University of Houston. Prior to earning her PhD she worked as a college outreach counselor in Houston schools and a program coordinator of the Colorado Diversity Initiative at the University of Colorado Boulder. She was the recipient of the 2021 University of Houston Teaching Excellence Award and 2023 Texas TRIO Achiever Award. In her research, Dr. López addresses the social and political contexts that students of color navigate across K-12 schools and their access to higher education. Her research examines: 1) the intersections of education and immigration policies, 2) culturally responsive education and family engagement, and 3) college access for Latinx and immigrant students. Dr. López is proud of her multiple identities as the daughter of immigrants from El Salvador and Mexico, first-generation college student/graduate, and mother scholar to name a few. These identities inform her commitment to educational equity and college access.
