Michelle M. Espino joined the Maryland faculty in 2012 as assistant professor in the Student Affairs concentration at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Dr. Espino’s contributions to the field of student affairs administration and higher education focus on understanding how institutional cultures, policies, and practices as well as community contexts affect and inform educational achievement, outcomes, and experiences along the P-20 pipeline for racial/ethnic minorities, particularly for Latinas/os. The Latina/o population is the largest minority population in the U.S., yet continues to experience the lowest educational attainment rates of any minority group. Her interest in analyzing educational experiences and career trajectories of Latina/o students, administrators, and faculty is timely and essential for developing strategies for crafting inclusive institutional environments that will support and empower all stakeholders.
Dr. Espino draws upon cultural assets, traditions, and personal elements of resiliency at the individual, familial, community, and institutional levels to illustrate mechanisms within the educational system that can lead to success. Her research and pedagogy inform the work of practitioners as they serve diverse communities in the midst of political, organizational, and budgetary challenges within the P-20 educational pipeline. Her scholarly work illustrates her commitment to advancing diverse perspectives on Latina/o educational attainment, creating connections between the institution and the community to enhance access to higher education, developing innovative approaches to qualitative research, and preparing student affairs practitioners to serve diverse student populations.
Dr. Espino has published articles in The Review of Higher Education, Teachers College Record, Equity & Excellence in Education, Qualitative Inquiry, and the American Journal of Education. In collaboration with Dr. Colleen O’Neal (CHSE, School Psychology), Dr. Espino recently received a Tier 1 Seed Grant from the UMD Division of Research and a SPARC Grant from the College of Education to analyze how 5 public institutions within the state of Maryland implement policy pertaining to the recent passing of the Maryland Dream Act, which supports in-state tuition for students without documentation. She also recently received a grant from the Consortium on Race, Ethnicity and Gender to study the experiences of Mexican American women faculty along the academic life course using data that was funded in part by the Ford Foundation.
Dr. Espino was a 2011 Faculty Fellow for the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE), a 2008 AAHHE Graduate Fellow, the 2008 recipient of the Bobby Wright Dissertation of the Year Award from the Association of the Study of Higher Education, and a 2007 Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellow.
Prior to her work at UMD, Dr. Espino was an assistant professor in the College Student Affairs Administration program at the University of Georgia. She has also held several positions within student affairs administration including social justice leadership, service-learning, campus programming, and fraternity/sorority life. She served as the 2008-2010 co-chair of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators Latina/o Knowledge Community. Dr. Espino earned her doctorate in Higher Education from the University of Arizona, her master’s degree in College Student Personnel from Bowling Green State University (OH), and her bachelor’s degree in International Relations from St. Mary’s University (TX).
Edited Books and Volumes
Espino, M.M., & Rome, K. (forthcoming). The role of college student affairs across institutional contexts [Section Editors]. In L. Patton & F. Harris (Eds.), College Student Affairs Administration.ASHE Reader Series (3rd edition). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Espino, M.M. (in press). The value of education and educacion: Nurturing Mexican American children's educational aspirations to the doctorate. Journal of Latinos and Education.
Espino, M.M. (in press). Sacrificing a Latina/o presence in the professoriate: An analysis of affirmative action as racial remedy and silent covenant. Association of Mexican American Educators Journal.
Zambrana, R.E., Ray, R., Espino, M.M., Castro, C., Douthirt Cohen, B., & Eliason, J. (2015). "Don’t leave us behind": The importance of mentoring for underrepresented minority faculty. American Educational Research Journal, 52(1), 40-72.
Munoz, S.M., Espino, M.M., & Antrop-Gonzalez, R. (2014). Creating counterspaces for sanctuaries of resistance: A historical analysis of Freedom University. Teachers College Record.
Espino, M.M. (2014). Exploring the role of community cultural wealth in graduate school access and persistence for Mexican American Ph.D.s. American Journal of Education, 120(4), 545-575.
Espino, M.M. (2012). Seeking the "truth" in the stories we tell: The role of critical race epistemology in higher education research. The Review of Higher Education, 36(1), 31-67.
Espino, M.M., Vega, I., Rendon, L.I., Ranero, J., & Muniz, M.M. (2012). The process of reflexion in bridging testimonios across lived experience. Equity & Excellence in Education, 45(3), 444-459.
Espino, M.M., & Lee, J.J. (2011). Understanding resistance: Reflections on race and privilege through service-learning. Equity & Excellence in Education, 44(2), 136-152.
Lee, J.J., & Espino, M.M. (2010). Diversity and service-learning: Beyond individual gains and toward social change. College Student Affairs Journal, 29(1), 1-16.
Espino, M.M., Munoz, S., & Marquez Kiyama, J. (2010). Transitioning from doctoral study to the academy: Theorizing trenzas of identity for Latina sister scholars. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(10), 804-818.
Atkinson, E., Dean, L.A., & Espino, M.M. (2010). Leadership outcomes based on membership multicultural Greek council (MGC) organizations. Oracle: The Research Journal for the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors, 5(2), 34-48.
Book Chapters
Espino, M.M., & Rome, K. (forthcoming). The role of college student affairs across institutional contexts [Section Editors]. In L. Patton & F. Harris (Eds.), College student affairs administration. ASHE Reader Series (3rd edition).
Espino, M.M. (in press). Researching White student experiences at Hispanic-serving institutions: A troubling matter of interest convergence. In R.T. Palmer, F.A. Bonner, J. Perez Mendez, & J. Mendez Negrete (Eds.), Hispanic-serving institutions. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Barber, J.P., Espino, M.M., & Bureau, D. (2015). Fraternities and sororities: Developing a compelling case for relevance in higher education. In P. Sasso & J. DeVitis (Eds.), Today's College Student. New York: Peter Lang Press.
Delgado-Romero, E., Espino, M.M., Werther, E., & Gonzalez, M.J. (2012). Building infrastructure through training of bilingual and bicultural mental health providers. In L.P. Buki & L.M. Pierdra (Eds.), Creating infrastructures for Latino mental health (pp. 99-116). New York: Springer Publishing.
Espino, M.M., & Cheslock, J.J. (2008). Considering the federal classification policy of historically Black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions. In M. Gasman, B. Baez, & C. Sotello-Turner (Eds.), Multidisciplinary approaches to minority-serving institutions (pp. 257-268). Albany: State University of New York Press.
2014 - Fellow, ADVANCING Faculty Diversity Program
2012 - Scholar, National Latino Education Research, Policy and Practice Initiative, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities
2011 - Faculty Fellow for the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education
2010 - Fellow for Association for the Study of Higher Education Institute on Equity and Critical Policy Analysis
2008 - Graduate Fellow American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education
2007 - Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellow
2006 - Fellow for the National Summer Institute for Minority Aspiring Faculty
2015 - Early Career Scholar Award, American Educational Research Association Hispanic Research Issues Special Interest Group
2012 - Finalist, University of Georgia Graduate School Outstanding Mentoring Award, 2012
2008 - Bobby Wright Dissertation of the Year Award, Association for the Study of Higher Education, 2008