We want to welcome our new Project MALES graduate assistants for the upcoming 2021-22 academic year. Read more to learn about our new staff.
Gabriel Martinez is a mentoring site coordinator and first-year Master’s student in the Education Policy and Planning Program at The University of Texas at Austin. He received his B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Education from Texas State University in the Fall of 2020. Gabriel’s research interests include reviewing the socio-economic factors that impact particularly young men within the Latino educational pipeline, as well as the effects of community organizing and mentorship.
Julio Mena Bernal is a mentoring site coordinator and first-year Master’s student in the Education Policy and Planning Program at The University of Texas at Austin. He recently earned his B.A. in Anthropology, and a minor in Chicano/a/x and Central American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is a first-gen graduate born in Acapulco, Mexico and raised in South East LA in the city of Bell. His research interests include urban education, mental health, k-20 school reform, students of color college access and success, school segregation, and race and ethnicity.
Armando Lizarraga is a graduate research assistant and is currently a first-year doctoral student in the Program for Higher Education Leadership at The University of Texas at Austin. He earned an Associate of Arts in general studies- social and behavioral sciences from El Camino College, and a Bachelor of Arts in Chicana/o studies and sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He recently earned his Master of Arts in Higher and Postsecondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. His past experiences as a community college student inform his research interest. Armando’s research interest includes community colleges, fem/mentoring programs, student support services, Latino males in higher education, and families impacted by the carceral system.
Visit our Staff page to learn about all of our graduate assistants.
