The SOE is proud to announce and celebrate our doctoral graduates who successfully defended their dissertations this academic year. Congratulations to all!

 

Name: Carlos A. Galan

Dissertation Title: For (Y)Our Eyes Only: Latina/o/x Faculty Navigating Tenure Expectations at Hispanic Serving Institutions

Dissertation Abstract: This study explores the experiences of 30Latina/o/x faculty navigating tenure expectations at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). The author uses qualitative interviews, guided by organizational theory and epistemic exclusion, to identify organizational conditions, policies, and practices that promote or impede the professional development and progression of Latina/o/x faculty in tenure-track appointments. 

The research in this study reveals four main findings that suggest striking parallels between HSIs and Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). The first finding details participants’ pathways into the professoriate. The second finding illustrates how Latina/o/x faculty experienced uneven levels of support as they navigated ambiguous, contradictory, and vague tenure expectations. The third finding emphasizes how Latina/o/x faculty members’ experiences managing tenure requirements at HSIs were dominated by the salience of being undervalued and disrespected in their contributions to research, teaching, and service while dealing with microaggressions. The fourth finding highlights how Latina/o/x professors coped with epistemic exclusion and shortcomings in their socialization experiences as they undertook the role of tenure-track professors at their respective institutions. 

The findings of this study have direct implications for diversifying the professoriate and improving educational outcomes for Latina/o/x students in higher education. Through these four findings, the author argues that the experiences of Latina/o/x professors in tenure-track appointments continue the history of a lack of institutional support that haunts the Latina/o/x community in higher education. The author introduces the concept of "Confianza" to combat the salience of epistemic exclusion in the organizational socialization of Latina/o/x faculty as a way to enact servingness at HSIs to better serve the Latina/o/x faculty and the Latina/o/x community in higher education.

Chair: Dr. Raquel M. Rall, Chairperson 

Committee Members: Dr. Eddie Comeaux, Dr. Louie F. Rodriguez

Future Plans: I will start a tenure-track position at CSU San Bernardino’s Watson College of Education; I will be part of the Special Education Rehabilitation and Counseling program. 

Reflection: I had a relatively good time at UC Riverside, but I am convinced I could not have completed a doctoral program without my wonderful advisor and dissertation chair, Dr. Raquel M. Rall. Thank you for taking a chance on me and fostering my growth throughout these years. Thank you for exemplifying what leading with excellence and grace truly is. Being your student, Dr. Rall, means answering the call to lead and do good work, but most importantly, work that matters. I hope to continue to answer that call.

I am grateful to my committee members, Dr. Eddie Comeaux and Dr. Louie Rodriguez. Your guidance and leadership were critical to completing my dissertation. Additionally, I express gratitude to my dissertation co-creators, students, SOE faculty and staff, as well as friends and family who supported and cheered for me throughout my educational journey. Nothing is done alone, because of you, I am.

 

 

Name: Elissa Monteiro

Dissertation Title: Teachers as a Viable Mechanism of Change to Support Students’ Self-Regulation

Dissertation Abstract: Self-regulation is a multidimensional set of skills critical for providing students the foundation for goal-based, self-controlled behavior. These skills are a predictor of students’ academic success and behavioral, social, and emotional well-being. A wealth of research has been dedicated to implementation of evidence-based interventions targeting students’ self-regulation, particularly for students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) whom teachers often report are more stressful to teach. Lack of knowledge about ADHD, low self-efficacy in supporting students with ADHD, and negative student-teacher relationships have been found to contribute to teacher stress. However, there remains a need to address whether teacher factors (e.g., knowledge about ADHD, experience working with students with ADHD) influence the effectiveness of interventions targeting ADHD symptoms. This dissertation is composed of two studies that aimed to examine the teacher-level factors salient for improving school-based interventions designed for students with ADHD. The first study used a small scale, in-depth systematic literature review to investigate intervention studies that concurrently measured student outcomes and teacher-level factors to elucidate teacher-level barriers and facilitators of each of the interventions. The second study evaluated the effectiveness of a teacher training designed to improve pre-service teacher knowledge about ADHD and self-efficacy in their ability to support students with ADHD. Recommendations are made for future directions in school-based ADHD intervention research and implications are discussed for educators and school psychological practice.

Chair: Dr. Stephanie Moore

Committee Members: Dr. Eui Kyung Kim & Dr. Austin Johnson

Future Plans: I am excited to continue my work refining the treatment of psychosocial school-based treatments for students with self-regulatory challenges! I have secured a postdoctoral research position with the Healthy Child and Family Development lab in the Clinical Psychology department at San Diego State University. The research project I will contribute to aims to integrate team-based development and collaboration to enhance an established school-based intervention for children with ADHD. I am delighted to join SDSU and UCSD’s collaborative research network, the Center for Team Effectiveness to Accelerate Evidence-Based Practice Implementation in Children’s Mental Health Services, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. 

Reflection: I joined the School Psychology department at UCR five years ago because it was apparent to me from the very beginning that UCR’s School of Education is a collaborative environment where I could carve a path unique to my interests and career goals. With time, this proved to be very true.  When prospective students ask me about my experience at UCR, the first thing I tell them is that my peers are my people. I tell them that the community of students who belong to SOE is rich with innovative ideas, good advice for getting through graduate school, and a passion for promoting access to quality education in our work. I have so many people to thank for the experiences I’ve gathered at UCR. I’d like to shout out the incredible experiences that SOE and GSA have provided me with by providing me with funds to travel to conferences and seek professional development experiences. I also cannot thank the Academic Preparation, Recruitment and Outreach team enough for supporting my Grad Slam win! I would not have been able to complete my doctoral degree without the support provided by my advisor, Dr. Stephanie Moore, and the encouragement and support provided by my cohort. WE DID IT!

 

 

 

Name: Norbert Negrea

Dissertation Title: ACEs, Education and Space: The Relationship of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Education Across California Counties

Dissertation Abstract: When considering issues of education in the United States of America, the vantage point to understanding inequity in education outcomes changes when the scope of an issue is seen from a systemic perspective compared to individual perspective. Research in public health suggests that childhood adversity is often experienced as a serious threat to a child’s physical or psychological sense of safety and wellbeing. In order to investigate childhood adversity and education over space, theoretical applications and methods focusing on more macro level systemic vantage points were selected for the current study. Addressing the need for more nuanced research on the relationship between ACEs, space and educational outcomes in secondary schools in California, the proposed study contributes by providing a complex data base of expanded ACEs definitions, the creation of an ACE composite variable and then linking them to the educational outcomes of public high school students across California’s 58 counties. The primary techniques utilized in analysis focused on geospatial analysis and linear regression. The constructed ACE composite variable was especially suited to the proposed study given that it was explicitly designed to explore the magnitude of accumulated ACE exposure over a geographic area. Results of the study painted a complex relationship between ACEs, space and education, with particularly interesting findings surrounding the difference between more rural/suburban counties compared to their urban counterparts, including important regional differences between north/central counties and southern counties. Implications on how California can follow suit of other states in the nation to standardize, organize and disseminate statewide ACE data and what kind of policy is feasible within the state to combat the negative population effects of ACE exposure on education outcomes are provided.  

Chair: Dr. Robert Ream 

Committee Members: Dr. Marsha Ing, Dr. Amos Lee  

Future Plans: Continuing to push for education equity in my current position working with LA county foster youth, aiming to gain more leverage in the field of analysis and policy.  

Reflection: I really appreciate UCR as a place where colleagues and great minds come together to push the envelope on social and educational equity. It has been such a pleasure working with great professors and friends to explore my scholarship and sharpen my research skills. I thank my committee, friends and especially my wife, daughter and family for the priceless support through all the difficult hurdles to complete this degree.

 

 

Name: Tori Porter

Dissertation Title: “Why couldn't I have a different experience that felt free?”: A Critical Narrative Inquiry on the Impacts of Plantation Politics on the Social and Academic Experiences of Black Transgender Students in Higher Education

Dissertation Abstract: This critical narrative inquiry examined the social and academic experiences of 20 Black transgender students currently or formerly enrolled in 4-year colleges and universities in the United States. Employing AntiBlack transness and plantation politics as my analytical framework, I demonstrate the insidious impact of plantation politics on Black transgender students' social and academic lives, which animate in both the processual and structural interactions within the plantation university. By problematizing the presence of plantation politics in both the processual and structural aspects of higher education, my study contributes to empirical understandings of how power dynamics operate within postsecondary institutions and the specific challenges faced by Black transgender students. The narratives shared by Black transgender students highlight the lack of representation, increased vulnerability, and the burden of educating others within the campus community. Furthermore, my research uncovers various issues, such as isolation, rejection, and marginalization, that lead some Black transgender students to abandon their educational pursuits. Despite examples of exclusion, my study also reveals how Black transgender students demonstrate a deep understanding of the expansiveness of their identities, fostering connections and communities within and beyond institutional spaces. Black transgender students create and sustain communities of care that provide vital support, recognition, and understanding, offering a safe and reliable space to be themselves without explanation. Battling institutional pushback and lacking formal support, these communities thrive; students meet one another's basic needs and facilitate their well-being and success. Black transgender students are actively creating spaces of Black trans futurity and transformation, where they (re)claim their life, (re)gain their agency, and embrace nonconformity. I offer practitioners the urgency in their willingness to resist and challenge the status quo, even in the face of significant obstacles, to support Black transgender students. Supporting these students will require disruptive logic, realigning solidarity, and shifting paradigms to meet Black transgender students where they are.

Chair: Dr. Raquel M. Rall

Committee Members: Dr. Rican Vue, Dr. Michael Moses II, Dr. Dylan Rodriguez

Future plans: Re-establishing my grandfather’s nonprofit organization, The Porter Education Foundation.

Reflection: I am unendingly grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to work in various capacities while at UCR. From having one of the best advisors, Dr. Rall and being part of a tight group of researchers and colleagues, #TeamRall, thank you!

 

Name: Manasi Rajadhyaksha

Dissertation Title: Examining Social-Emotional Development in Black Children: Role of Intrapersonal and Contextual Factors

Dissertation Abstract: Several socio-ecological factors play a critical role in influencing child development in general and social-emotional development in particular. While various studies have shed light on the influence of intrapersonal and external factors on children's social-emotional skills, fewer have comprehensively examined these factors, particularly within the context of middle childhood and specifically among Black children. Furthermore, only a limited number of studies have specifically investigated these associations within racial groups rather than between them. The current study aimed to fill this gap by investigating how child characteristics, interpersonal discrimination experiences, and family dynamics shape social-emotional development in Black children. 

Using a nationally representative database of fifth-grade students, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011), the current study partially tested the integrative conceptual model of adaptive racial/ethnic and emotion socialization by Dunbar and colleagues (2017). Weighted hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine four of the five main components included in the model. Results indicated both intrapersonal and contextual factors can influence the social-emotional developmental outcomes of Black children. Specifically, these outcomes are determined by Black children’s emotion regulation levels, their parents’ involvement in school activities, parents’ mental well-being, and the quality of the home environment in which the children live and grow. Findings from the proposed study can provide useful information for educators, mental health professionals, and caregivers related to the multiple complex elements in Black children’s lives that may stimulate or inhibit their social- emotional functioning levels. This information can further guide the development and use of culturally relevant intervention strategies and treatment procedures for this population. 

Chair: Austin Johnson

Committee Members: Eui Kyung Kim, Stephanie Moore 

Reflection: I wish to express my deepest gratitude to the incredible mentors I had the privilege of working with at UC Riverside: Dr. Austin Johnson, Dr. Evelyn Vázquez, and Dr. William Erchul. Your unwavering support, guidance, and motivation have been invaluable to my Ph.D. journey, and I aspire to pay forward the kindness you've shown me throughout my professional career. I am profoundly thankful to my dissertation committee members and the SOE faculty, Drs. Kim and Moore, for their steadfast support and encouragement during these past years. Furthermore, I extend my heartfelt thanks to the incredible support system I am blessed with in life—my family and all my friends—whose unwavering support has been the wind beneath my wings. To my cherished family of the heart, Vikrant and Flash, I have only one thing to say: I am because you are.

Finally, I am grateful to the UC Riverside community for embracing me as one of its own and helping me find a home 8,000 miles away from home.