Cecilia Rios-Aguilar

Associate Professor of Education

Ph.D. University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 2007

Biography

Dr. Cecilia Rios-Aguilar is an Associate Professor of Education at the School of Educational Studies. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York in 2007. Before joining Claremont Graduate University, Dr. Rios-Aguilar was an Assistant Professor at the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona, and a visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Rochester. Also, Dr. Rios-Aguilar worked for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans as a graduate fellow.

Dr. Rios-Aguilar’s research is multidisciplinary and uses a variety of conceptual frameworks—funds of knowledge and the forms of capital—and of statistical approaches—regression analysis, multilevel models, structural equation modeling, GIS, and social network analysis—to study the educational and occupational trajectories of under-represented minorities, including Latina/os, English learners, and immigrant and second-generation students. Dr. Rios-Aguilar’s applied research also includes the design and evaluation of different programs and policies targeted to under-represented students. Dr. Rios-Aguilar has published her work in several journals, including Teachers College Record, Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, Volume, Language Policy, Community College Review, and the Journal of Latinos and Education.

In 2010, Dr. Rios-Aguilar collaborated with the UCLA Civil Rights Project on the Arizona Educational Equity Project. Most recently, Dr. Rios-Aguilar and her colleague Dr. Regina Deil-Amen, received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to conduct the first study to assess how community colleges adopt and use social media technology for strategic purposes. The three-year national project will explore the relevance of social media technology to engage students, build connections, and improve outcomes within community colleges.
She teaches a range of substantive courses in education including the following seminars: Funds of Knowledge and the Forms of Capital, Social Network Analysis, Quantitative Research Methods, and Survey Research Methods.

• Email:  cecilia.rios-aguilar@cgu.edu

• Curriculum Vitae