UGA Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education - CLASE

Join us for our final Distinguished Speaker for the 2025-2026 Series! We are welcoming Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, a Professor of English Education from the Teachers College at Columbia University and the 2024 New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, as well as the Human Development’s Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Award winner.

She is co-editor of five books and is co-author of the multiple award-winning book Advancing Racial Literacies in Teacher Education: Activism for Equity in Digital Spaces (2021) where she examines her concept of Archeology of Self ™ in education. Please join us virtually on Thursday April 30th from 6:00-7:00PM (EST). For the zoom link, click the link in our bio to register!

Update on our Brown Bag Speaker Series!!! We have met with many amazing scholars across fields. Check out the amazing work they are doing and you can find more information on them on our website as CLASE affiliates. Thank you for all that you do for Latine students🌟

Join us for a special evening with Dr. Victor Saenz, the Associate Dean for Student Success, Community Engagement, and Administration, as well as the L. D. Haskew Centennial Professor in Public School Administration, and a leading scholar in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Texas at Austin. His work centers best practices and policy solutions to improve outcomes for underserved students in education.

Join us virtually on Thursday, January 29th from 6:00 - 7:00 PM (EST). For the zoom link, click the link in our bio to register! Once you register, Zoom will send a confirmation email with the meeting link and information.

Join us for a special evening with Dr. Ruben Parra-Cardona, a leading scholar whose work focuses on culturally adapted interventions to strengthen Latinx families, promote parenting resilience, reduce mental health disparities.

Join us in person (Aderhold RM G5) and virtually! For the zoom link, click the link in the bio to sign up.

Thank you to all who attended CLASE’s Georgia Latino Educational Summit 2025!!! We had a great time engaging in community, conversations, and presentations about the importance of Latine educational opportunities across Georgia, as well as collaboration with various organizations to support students. Please enjoy the following photos from our event❤️

There’s still time to sign up for the Georgia Latino Education Summit(GLES)! The Summit will take place on October 25, from 8:30AM-5:30PM.

The GLES is a tri-annual statewide conference at the University of Georgia hosted by The Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education (CLASE) and co-sponsored by The Latino Community Fund and Ser Familia. It aims to advance data-driven conversations on Latine education from early childhood through higher education. The 2025 Summit will convene educators, researchers, community leaders, policymakers, parents, and students to share data, engage in solution-oriented dialogue, and promote achievement and success for Georgia’s Latine students. The event will feature keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and the public release of the “Latino Achievement and Success in Georgia” report.

To sign up, please use this link: https://estore.uga.edu/C27063_ustores/web/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=11175

Lastly, we welcome our External Reseach Collaborator, Francisco Diaz: Francisco Diaz is a Ph.D. candidate in Financial Planning, Housing, and Consumer Economics at the University of Georgia, where he also earned his Master of Science. His research focuses on housing access, housing segregation among minorities, including Hispanic subgroups, and the influence of consumer education and cultural factors on
consumer behavior. He has taught courses such as Microeconomics I, Economic Development, Consumer in Our Society, and Research Workshops.

He believes that education is fundamental to societal development and values dynamism in the classroom, combining theory with examples and interactive activities to encourage meaningful learning. His goal is to advance education and public policy that support
equitable opportunities for all.

Areas of Research Interest: Housing segregation among minorities, Consumer education and financial well-being, Cultural influences on consumer behavior, Public policy and equitable opportunities

We present our next External Research Collaborator, Mariano Lozano Soto: Mariano Lozano-Soto was born in San Diego California and raised on both sides of the México-U.S border. Mariano holds a B.A from Cal State Northridge in Religious Studies and an M.A from UC Santa Barbara in History of Religions. He also holds a bilingual teaching credential from San Diego State University and has authorization in Social Science and Spanish as a World Language Teaching subject. He has taught high school social science and ELD classes.

He is currently a doctoral candidate in the San Diego State University – Claremont Graduate University Joint Ph.D. Program in Education. His research primarily focuses on policy for English Learners, school finance, multicultural and multilingual education, and the transition from K-12 to post-secondary educational outcomes. His dissertation focuses on the use of Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief Funds (ESSER) to support multilingual learners in California. His research work is grounded in a strong advocacy for
advancing equitable policies that better serve multilingual learners.

Today we introduce one of our External Research Collaborators, Evelyn Pinto: Evelyn Pinto was born in Santa Ana, Metapán, El Salvador, and has lived in the heart of Athens, Georgia since the age of three. She is a proud product of CCSD K–12 schools and went on to attend Rhodes College for her undergraduate studies. She currently works with the Athens-Clarke County People & Belonging Department.

In addition to her work in local government, Evelyn serves as an External Research Collaborator with the University of Georgia’s Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education (CLASE). She leads a research project focused on understanding the barriers
undocumented and first-generation students face in accessing higher education, with the goal of promoting more equitable educational opportunities.

Throughout her career, Evelyn has been committed to fostering inclusive communities and bridging systemic gaps through strategic leadership, community engagement, and evidence-based initiatives. Her work aims to advance equity, belonging, and meaningful participation across both organizational and educational contexts.

Our next Goizueta Scholar is Monica Sanchez: Monica (She/Her/Ella) was born and raised in Eatonton, Georgia. She is a bilingual first-generation student and a child of Mexican immigrants. She received a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Woman and Gender Studies from Valdosta State University. Later, she earned a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of Georgia. She is now a 4th year doctoral candidate in Counseling Psychology at the University of Georgia’s Mary Frances Early College of Education. Within her clinical work, she primarily works to help clients heal from traumatic experiences using a decolonial and feminist lens, with a focus on Latine children, families, and uninsured individuals.

As a CLASE Goizueta Scholar, she envisions developing her qualitative research skills in capturing the narratives of the educational experiences of Latine individuals in the South. She also hopes to provide a critical and trauma-informed lens to her work, using her experiences working with marginalized communities.

Areas of Interest include: Supervision Practices with Marginalized Practitioners, Healing Traumatic Experiences within the Latine Community, and Immigrant Mother/Daughter conversations as a Space for Healing

Today we introduce another incredible Goizueta Scholar, Kimberly Resendiz Chavez: Kim is a woman, student, and scholar, who was raised in Chatsworth, Georgia, and is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. She earned an A.S. degree from Dalton State College, a B.A. in Psychology from Berry College, a M.A.T. in Special Education (Adapted Curriculum and Autism) from the University of Georgia, and a M.A. in Educational Psychology (School Psychology) from the University of Georgia. Kimberly is currently a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in School Psychology at UGA. Within her clinical practice, she conducts psychoeducational evaluations, autism assessments, and intervention services in both English and Spanish and in a variety of clinical and school settings.

For the past four years, Kimberly has been a graduate fellow at the CLASE, where she has led projects such as the National and Georgia Latino Achievement and Success Report, The Georgia Latino Education Summit, and the CLASE outreach taskforce, which disseminates resources for Latine students and families. Her research focuses on disparities in autism diagnoses and services, particularly among Latine families, with the goal of increasing access to more inclusive diagnostic and educational services. After graduation, Kimberly hopes to work as a bilingual provider in a hospital or clinical setting conducting autism assessments and providing intervention, while continuing to integrate her passion for outreach into her professional practice.

Areas of Interest: Autism diagnostic and service disparities, Latine Communities, Dissemination of educational and clinical resources to underserved populations, Bi/Multilingualism in autism communities, Immigrant and first-generation families’ access to
educational and clinical services, and Access to multilingual clinical and educational services in rural communities.