Lucy Arellano

Lucy Arellano is an Associate Professor of higher education in the Department of Education. She has almost twenty years of experience in the field of higher education. Her research focuses on persistence, retention, and degree completion for emerging majority students. Concepts of diversity, campus climates, engagement, and student co-curricular involvement ground her work. Furthermore, she examines campus environments and how institutional agency influences student success. This research spans three different spheres of influence including 1) student experiences, 2) higher education institutions, and 3) societal contexts.

In her latest grant, she serves as a co-principal investigator on a million-dollar, 5-year NSF grant whose purpose is to develop a culturally relevant framework, to understand the intersection of Latinx identity and developing a STEM identity at a Hispanic-Serving Institution that is also a community college to support students’ degree completion, persistence, and transitions to life beyond the community college. The driving force behind all aspects of her work is student success. This passion emerged as a Latina first-generation college student learning how to navigate higher education as an 18-year-old, 2,500 miles away from home. In her teaching, she is proud to shape, influence, and nurture future educators, scholars, administrators, college presidents, policymakers, and community leaders. In her service endeavors, she is an advocate for marginalized communities and strives to aid in the dismantling of systemic oppression.