Teaching interests: Chicana/o identity, theoretical frameworks, gender, feminism, and history; race, access , choice and equity in higher education; Chicana/o and Latina/o education; education pipeline issues.

Research interests: U.S. educational inequality with an emphasis on the Chicana/o and Latina/o population; higher education access and equity; college choice; college persistence and retention issues; Latino-serving institutions, financial aid policy and racial diversity in higher education.

Brief biography: Dr. Pérez earned her Ph.D. in 2007 from the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.  Her dissertation focused on the college choice process of Chicana and Chicano community college, transfer and university students in public postsecondary institutions in California.  Dr. Pérez has presented at various conferences including the American Educational Research Association, the Association for the Study of Higher Education and the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute.  She is the recipient of several awards including an Institute of American Cultures grant provided by the UCLA Chicana/o Studies Research Center, a University of California Regents fellowship, and honors for outstanding mentorship. Born and raised in Santa Paula, California, Dr. Pérez received a B.A. in Chicana/o Studies from UCLA and an Ed.M. from Harvard University.