College of Education Office of Community College Research and Leadership

Karla Velasco

Research Assistant

She/her/ella

Karla Velasco is a doctoral student studying in the Department of Education Policy, Organization & Leadership at Illinois, with a focus on global studies in education. She is a Gates Millennium Scholar, a McNair Program graduate, a fellow at the Graduate College, and a teaching assistant at the College of Education. Prior to arriving in Urbana-Champaign, she worked in social-justice-oriented educational summer programs for youth of color. Velasco also worked with a family in Mexico that lost someone to feminicide and provided advocacy services to survivors of domestic violence in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.

Education

  • Doctoral student, Global Studies in Education, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  • M.Ed., Harvard University
  • M.A., Latin American Studies, University of Texas at Austin
  • B.A., Latin American and Latino Studies, Depaul University

Projects

  • Communication and Dissemination
  • Higher Education Futures Roundtable

Research Areas

  • Trauma-informed pedagogies and programming in higher education institutions
  • Latinx student experiences in higher education with an emphasis on community colleges
  • Comparative K-16 education in the U.S. and Mexico
  • Gender-based violence, feminicide
  • Intersectional feminisms
College of Education Office of Community College Research and Leadership
2202 Kirk Drive, MC-672
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: 217-244-9390
Email: occrl@illinois.edu

Chicago Office

Illini Center
200 S. Wacker Drive, 19th Floor
MC-200
Chicago, IL 60606
Illini Center Website