Title III Project Director: Pathways to Equity, Access to Knowledge (PEAK) at Arapahoe Community College
About
Dr. Vasquez has over 20 years of experience developing programs focused on supporting underrepresented students in undergraduate and graduate education. As a higher education leader, he has managed several multi-institutional, multi-million-dollar NSF grants, helped develop several new STEM master’s degrees, and created pipeline, retention, and professional development programs for students at all stages of academic training. As a researcher, Dr. Vasquez uses narrative inquiry to study the psycho-social factors affecting career trajectories of URM students by focusing on how students choose their selected degree program and at what stages in their education and training they encounter barriers causing them to want to leave. Dr. Vasquez's work has helped institutions take a socio-ecological approach to identifying how environmental, institutional, departmental, and cultural experiences have affected student retention and help them develop strategies to address those barriers.
Current Work:
Dr. Vasquez has been part of two interdisciplinary research teams aimed at expanding the college-going culture for Michigan Latinx families. As a visiting scholar at the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good, he led the research and development of an interactive tool at uleadnet.org/mi-undocu-map. This tool analyzes the inclusivity and level of support for undocumented students in admission, tuition/residency, and financial aid policies at Michigan’s two and four-year public higher education institutions. Through the Julian Samora Research Institute, Dr. Vasquez was part of a team that developed Éxito Educativo, a bilingual, after-school program that brings Latinx parents and their students in high school together to learn about requirements for high school graduation, sources of support, and pathways to college. Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Michigan College Access Network provided Dr. Vasquez with a $10,000 grant to turn take this in-person program, virtual.
Research Area Keyword(s):
equity-minded assessment; academic pathways; career pathways; community-based participatory research; narrative inquiry
