Bios - Cisneros Research & Policy Colloquium

Mayra Canizales Cruz (Moderator)
Founding Partner, The Canizales Group

Mayra Canizales Cruz (she/her/ella) is a lifelong educator dedicated to transforming schools into affirming spaces for children and adults by fostering linguistically liberating practices and systems. A former award-winning and equity-driven principal of Oyster-Adams Bilingual School for seven years, she excels in systems
thinking to operationalize initiatives with intentional outcomes. Mayra is a thoughtful community organizer who actively disrupts visible and invisible systems of power to create spaces that center students, educators, and families of color. Her expertise includes school leadership development, dual language education, adult coaching, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and facilitating challenging conversations with patience and power in both Spanish and English.

Weadé James, PhD
Senior Director, K-12 Education Policy, Center for American Progress

Dr. James brings a wealth of expertise to this role, having led initiatives to accelerate student learning in K-12 and higher education. Her research and expertise advances equity for historically marginalized groups, particularly students with disabilities, low-income students, and students and educators of color.

   "How To Increase the Retention of Early Career Teachers"

Rachel M. Perera, PhD
Fellow, Brown Center on Education Policy, Brookings Institution

Dr. Perera's research examines how racial and socioeconomic inequalities develop in K-12 education and the consequences of policies designed to reduce educational inequality. Her current work focuses on civil rights and education, school discipline, and COVID-19 recovery. She also studies the politics of education policymaking, examining issues related to private school choice and charter schools as well as school boards.

   "Tracking lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s K-12 education agenda"

Julie Sugarman, PhD
Associate Director, K-12 Education Research, Migration Policy Institute

Dr. Sugarman is the Associate Director for K-12 Education Research at MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, where she focuses on multilingual learner education and helps stakeholders understand complex research and policy issues, improve program design, and evaluate program effectiveness.

   "Schools and Immigrant Students Navigate an Era of Rising Immigration Enforcement"

Trey Johnston (Moderator)
Deputy Director, Cisneros Institute, The George Washington University

Johnston’s research evaluates and complicates the role of citizenship and identities like race, gender, and disability in public administration and social services implementation through mixed methods approaches. Building on his Fulbright work, he also studies the representation of Latinos and the ways language influences identity and well-being, particularly within higher education structures. In addition to his research, Johnston is the Director of the Im/migrant Well-Being Scholar Collaborative and works closely with nonprofit organizations throughout Washington, DC to design leadership and executive training programs that prepare participants for work on and with Capitol Hill. 

Rachel Fishman
Director, Higher Education Program, New America

Fishman is a researcher, award-winning writer, and advocate dedicated to centering students and their needs in federal policymaking discussions. She has the honor of leading a diverse team of talented individuals who work together to make higher education more equitable and inclusive.

   "The House's Financial Aid 'Confusion' Act"

Corrine Kentor, PhD 
Senior Manager, Research & Policy, The Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration

Dr. Kentor is an interdisciplinary social scientist focused on immigration, family, and higher education. As the Manager of Research and Policy at the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, she develops grounded strategic research to inform advocacy efforts that highlight the contributions of undocumented, international, and refugee populations in higher education. She is a collaborative researcher with expertise in program evaluation, ethnography, case study research, and policy analysis.

   "Protecting Tuition Equity: A Playbook for State Coalitions and Higher Education"

Konrad Mugglestone, PhD
Senior Manager, College Excellence Program, Aspen Institute

Dr. Mugglestone's work is focused on research and knowledge management. Previously, he was the Assistant Director of Research and Policy at the Institute for Higher Education Policy, and he has held policy research positions at Education Reform Now and Young Invincibles. Throughout his career, Konrad’s published work has focused on improving higher education’s capacity to provide equitable economic opportunity and mobility for students from underrepresented backgrounds.

   "New Tools to Help More Colleges Improve Post-Graduation Success at Scale"

Dr. Elizabeth Vaquera
Executive Director, Cisneros Institute, The George Washington University

Dr. Elizabeth Vaquera is a professor and national expert on the social and emotional well-being of Latinos and immigrants who applies that knowledge to transform the lives of young adults as Executive Director of the Cisneros Institute at The George Washington University. A frequent media commentator in outlets such as Politico, Newsweek and Axios, Dr. Vaquera is also the founder and co-chair of the Im/migrant Well-Being Scholar Collaborative, a network dedicated to translating empirical findings on the lives of immigrants for use in policymaking. Under Dr. Vaquera’s leadership over the last decade, more than 1,000 students from the pre-college to executive level have benefited from the Cisneros Institute’s innovative approach to leadership and academic development, as well as its holistic support for participants’ financial, psychosocial, and physical well-being. Undergraduate students that receive support from the Institute, known as Cisneros Scholars, graduate at nearly twice the national average rate of their peers and go on to careers that improve communities nationwide. Dr. Vaquera received her doctorate in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. She is the recipient of multiple federally-funded grants from NIH and NSF and is the author of Education and Immigration, which examines the educational experiences of immigrants and their children living in the U.S.