Keynote Speaker

Dr. Tara Yosso

Tara J. Yosso is a first generation college student and Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Riverside. She earned her B.A. at UCLA in an individual major she designed: "Social Psychology of Education with an Emphasis in Chicana/o Studies.” She also earned her Ph.D. at UCLA in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, in Urban Schooling. She was recruited to UCR in the cluster hire for scholars working with the diverse U.S. populations of people considered part of what Américo Paredes called, “Greater Mexico.” Prior to UCR, she worked as an assistant and associate professor in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at UC-Santa Barbara, and as a professor in the School of Education at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Yosso’s research and teaching apply the frameworks of critical race theory and critical media literacy to examine educational access and opportunity. She takes a collaborative, intersegmental, and transdisciplinary approach to studying the ways Communities of Color have historically utilized an array of cultural knowledge, skills, abilities, and networks to navigate structures of racial discrimination in pursuit of educational equality. She has authored and co-authored numerous chapters and articles in publications such as the Harvard Educational Review, Journal of Popular Film and Television, and History of Education Quarterly. Her research is extensively cited within and beyond education. For example, her article, “Whose Culture has Capital? A Critical Race Theory Discussion of Community Cultural Wealth,” has become the top cited article in Race Ethnicity and Education since its publication in 2005. The American Educational Studies Association recognized her book, Critical Race Counter stories along the Chicana/Chicano Educational Pipeline (Routledge) with a 2008 Critics’ Choice Book Award. She has been awarded a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship for Diversity and Excellence in University Teaching and was honored by the Critical Race Studies in Education Association with a 2017 Derrick Bell Legacy Award.