Dr. Pedro Nava

INVITED Speaker

Pedro E. Nava is an Associate Professor of Education in the Educational Leadership Program at Santa Clara University.

Pedro completed his Ph.D. from UCLA’s Graduate School of Education in the Urban Schooling division. His dissertation was titled Sin Sacrificio No Hay Recompensa: Apoyo as (Im)migrant Parental Engagement in Farmworking Families of the California Central Valley. In his thesis, using critical race and political economy theory, he explored this process by conducting a qualitative case study examination through life histories and in-depth interviews of families in an agricultural community in California’s San Joaquin Valley. For this research, Pedro was recognized and supported by both the Ford Foundation and the University of California Office of the President in the form of dissertation fellowships, and by the Institute of American Cultures at UCLA through a research grant.

His research and teaching focus on urban and rural schooling inequality, critical pedagogy and critical race theory, immigration and education, family-school engagement, and participatory action research. Pedro has been published in Race Ethnicity & Education, The Urban Review, Latino Studies Journal, Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, Journal of Leadership, Equity, and Research, Journal of Hispanics in Higher Education, and other venues. Prior to his time at UCLA, he completed a Master’s degree at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education with a specialization in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy, and a Bachelor’s degree from California State University at Fresno in Liberal Studies and Chicano Studies.