Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Houston
About
Dr. Elsa Gonzalez is an assistant professor of higher education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Houston (UH) since August 2017. She was selected as an energy fellow for the UH Energy Initiative of the University of Houston and nominated by the American Educational Research Association Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class and Gender special interest group for the Mid-Career Award in April 2018. Previously, she held faculty positions in Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and Texas A&M University-College Station. She received her MBA from the National University of Mexico (UNAM), and a PhD from Texas A&M University-College Station. Dr. Gonzalez is the regional editor of the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), and board member of the Journal of Hispanic Higher Education. She is the author of 81 publications, and her research interests include issues in higher education such as underrepresented students, Latino/a students, female students, impact in the community, school-college and readiness, access, retention, and graduation in STEM fields; higher education leadership; and methodological issues in cross-language qualitative data analysis. She has professional and academic leadership experience as bilingual scholar in higher education institutions in Mexico, Spain, USA, and China.
Current Work:
Dr. Elsa Gonzalez has been working with different colleagues in the study of issues that affect students in higher education; such as gender issues, underrepresented populations particularly in STEM fields, college readiness, among others. The analysis of these issues and those in collaboration with her doctoral students has given her additional exposure to the reality that our society faces currently in the United States and in the world. These topics are already included in her research agenda, to support the collaborations in the University of Houston, where she is having the opportunity to engage her scholarship, research interest, and passion in a Research One and Hispanic serving institution (HSI) in Texas.
Research Area Keyword(s):
Underrepresented, Latina, students, STEM, qualitative research
