My Academic Work
My research focuses on racial, economic, and gender equity by examining the barriers faced by minoritized individuals and the organizations that serve them, while also exploring agentic opportunities for survival, success, & liberation.
Research for Social Justice, Equity, & Liberation
College Transition Programs.
As a team member on a six-year, $6.2 million longitudinal study, we employed a mixed-methods approach to understand the impact of a comprehensive college transition program (CCTP) on three public campuses. My work has focused on investigating students' sense of belonging, social self-efficacy, and career development. Key findings have demonstrated the importance of initiatives that streamline institutional resources while providing tailored support to low-income, first-generation, and minoritized students. Most recent Phase 2 efforts focus on Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) that facilitate institutional change based upon best practices.
Cultural Centers.
Inspired by an interest in identity-specific spaces on university campuses, I conducted an ethnographic, year-long study of a Black Cultural Center (BCC). With $1,500 of grant support, I synthesized the voices and experiences of undergraduate, graduate, and practitioner participants who found immense benefits from engaging with this BCC space, despite institutional underfunding. This study contributes empirical support for the continued need and importance of culturally responsive, race-specific identity centers across college environments that (1) help students build social capital, (2) advance their racial identity development, and (3) provide additional supports for graduate students.
Urban Charter Schools.
My most recent research looks at the experiences of young people who have attended and graduated from urban charter high schools in city centers like Boston and Los Angeles. Through a collaborative $150,000 grant with a charter school in Boston, I have implemented a 3-year program aimed at strengthening college access, persistence, and completion for graduates. My dissertation, supported by a $1,500 grant, focuses on the racialized college experiences of urban charter graduates as they transition from predominantly Latinx and Black high school environments to historically white universities in Southern California.
Social Justice, Anti-Racist & Equity-Driven K12 Leaders.
In collaboration with fellow faculty at Cal Poly Pomona, we have received a generous $25,000 grant from the Barbara Nakaoka Foundation. We have conducted individual interviews and focus groups with our doctoral program alumni to better understand the opportunities and barriers to their everyday efforts as equity and social justice advocates.
COVID-19 and the First-Year, College Transition.
An extension of prior work with urban charter school graduates, this study follows Latinx students as they experience their first year in college attending universities in Southern California during the unprecedented onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Their insights offer how their respective institutions responded to the crisis and how these students adjusted to virtual instruction.
Recent Publications
Kezar, A., Hypolite, L. I., & Kitchen, J. A. (2019). Career Self-Efficacy: A Mixed-Methods Study of an Underexplored Research Area for First-Generation, Low-Income, and Underrepresented College Students in a Comprehensive College Transition Program. The American Behavioral Scientist, 1–27.