Covarrubias, Alejandro
Alejandro Covarrubias
(323) 781-4482
EDUCATION
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles
Social Science and Comparative Education, Race and Ethnic Studies
Dissertation Title: Agencies of Transformational Resistance: Transforming the Intersection of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality Oppression through Latino Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) and Praxis
Dissertation Chair: Daniel Solorzano
M.A., University of California, Los Angeles
Social Science and Comparative Education, Race and Ethnic Studies
B.A., University of California, Los Angeles
Psychology major; Education minor
University of California, Berkeley
RESEARCH INTEREST
Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality in Educational Policy; Equity and Diversity in Educational Knowledge Production; Community Driven Research Justice; High School Push-Outs; Undocumented Identity Threat; Boys of Color; War on Drugs; and Transformational Resistance.
TEACHING
2008-present Lecturer, University of California, Los Angeles
Cesar Chavez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies
Chicana/o Studies 100 SL: “Barrio Service Learning”
Chicana/o Studies 166: “Paulo Freire for the Chicana/o Classroom”
Chicana/o Studies 188: “Chicanas/os and the ‘War on Drugs’”
Chicana/o Studies M122/Urban Planning M171: “Planning Issues in Latina/Latino Communities”
2008-present Lecturer, California State University, Los Angeles
Chicana and Chicano Studies Department
Chicana/o Studies 111: “Chicanas/os and Cultural Diversity”
Chicana/o Studies 112: “Cultural Expression in America”
Sociology/Chicana/o Studies 327: “Ethnicity and Emotions in US films”
Sociology/Chicana/o St. 335: “Race and Culture in the Americas” (online & live)
Chicana/o St/Pan African St./Sociology 348: “Class, Race/Ethnicity and Gender”
Chicana/o Studies 405: “Mexican People as Immigrants”
Chicana/o Studies 432: “Chicanas/os and the War on Drugs”
Chicana/o Studies 471: “History of Chicana/o Education”
2010-2012 Lecturer, Cal State University, Northridge; Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Dept.
ELP 203: “Urban Education in America”
ELPS 417: “Equity and Diversity in Schools” – (graduate course)
2000 - 2001 Lecturer, California State University, Long Beach
Chicano/a and Latino/a Studies Department
Chicano/Latino Studies 340: “Chicano/Latino Education in the US”
2000 - 2001 Lecturer, California State University, Northridge
Chicana and Chicano Studies Department
Chicana/o Studies 245: “History of the Americas”
2000 - 2000 Lecturer, California State University, Long Beach
Linguistics Department
Linguistics 425/Anthropology 421: “Education across Cultures”
1998 Teaching Assistant, UCLA GSE & IS, Daniel Solorzano, Ph.D.
Education M102/Chicano Studies M102: “Chicanas and Chicanos in Schools”
1997 Teaching Assistant, UCLA GSE & IS, Alfredo Artiles, Ph.D.
Education 413B: “Latino Culture and Education”
PUBLICATIONS
Published
· Covarrubias, A. & Liou, Daniel. (July, 2014; Online – October, 2013) “Asian American Education and Income Attainment in the Era of Post Racial America.” Teachers College Record.
· Covarrubias, A. & Liou, Daniel. (October, 2013) Asian American Educational Attainment and Earning Power,” Asian American Education Report pp. 1-4. New York: AALDEF.
· Covarrubias, A. & Lara, Argelia. (2014). (Published online before print March 5, 2013, doi: 10.1177/0042085912470468) “The (Im)Migration Educational Pipeline: The Impact of Citizenship Status on Educational Attainment for People of Mexican Origin.” Urban Education, Vol. 49(1) 75-110.
· Covarrubias, A. & Velez, V. (2013) “Critical Race Quantitative Intersectionality: An Anti-Racist Research Paradigm that Refuses to “Let the Numbers Speak for Themselves.” In Lynn, M. & Dixon, A. Handbook of Critical Race Theory in Education (pp. 270-285). New York: Routledge.
· Covarrubias, A. (2011) “Quantitative Intersectionality: A Critical Race Analysis of the Chicana/o Educational Pipeline.” Journal of Latinos and Education, 10 (2), 86-105.
· Covarrubias, A. Raising a Multidimensional Consciousness of Resistance.” In Berta-Avila, M., Tijerina Revilla, A., and Figueroa, J. (2011) Marching Students: Chicana and Chicano Activism in Education, 1968 to the Present. Las Vegas: University of Nevada Press.
· Covarrubias, A. & Tijerina Revilla, A. (2003) “Agencies of Transformational Resistance: Dismantling discrimination at the Intersection of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality Through LatCrit Praxis,” University of Florida Law Review, 55, 460-477.
Unpublished Manuscripts (pre-submission)
· Covarrubias, A., Solorzano, D., & Velez, V. “Revisiting the Chicana/o Educational Pipeline: A Policy Brief” Latino Policy & Issues Brief
· Covarrubias, A. “Chicano High School Push-Outs: Non-Educational Construction of Boys of Color”
· Covarrubias, A. “Network of Resistance as CRT Praxis: Raising a Multidimensional Consciousness and Commitment to Justice through Transdisciplinary Critical Race Pedagogy.”
· Covarrubias, A. “The Military Educational Pipeline: The US Armed Forces as an entry point for Chicanas/os into higher education.”
Curricula
· Covarrubias, A., Ledezma, J. and Rodriguez, M. (2011). Building Green Capacity: Practical Classroom Lessons in Photovoltaic System Installation, Weatherization and Energy Efficiency. ATR Consulting: Los Angeles. (261 pp.)
· Ledezma, J. and Covarrubias, A. (2010). Making Algebra Green: A Photovoltaic Application. ATR Consulting: Los Angeles. (122 pp.)
Both curricula were created for separate alternative charter high schools
RESEARCH
2013 – 2014 Principal Investigator
Intersectional-GeoSpacial analysis of alternative charter high schools serving former push-outs in Los Angeles Neighborhoods. This multilevel, mixed-methods study is a participatory action research project engaging young people, ages 17-24, of an alternative high school located in Watts, CA.
2012-2014 Principal Investigator
Intersectional analyses of "Identity threat” for undocumented students of Mexican origin. Examination of how stereotype threat distinctly impacts undocumented Mexican students as they navigate multiple spaces and experience negative cues.
2008-2012 Principal Investigator
Quantitative intersectional analyses of educational attainment. Examination of Chicana/o educational pipeline educational pipeline; undocumented Mexican educational pipeline and Asian American educational pipeline disaggregated by race, class, gender, citizenship status, space and generation status.
2008-2011 Principal Investigator
Conducted research on the perceptions that high school “push-outs” have about why they did not earn a high school diploma. Administered surveys to over 400 high school “push-outs” and conducted 40 case studies of individuals currently enrolled in alternative educational settings throughout urban Los Angeles.
1999 - 2000 Graduate Student Researcher, UCLA Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, Ronald Gallimore, Ph.D.
Worked with research team on the twelfth-year of a longitudinal study that examined the educational experiences of the children of Latino Immigrants from Social Ecological perspective.
1999 Graduate Student Researcher, UCLA Cesar Chavez Center for Interdisciplinary Chicana/o Studies and UCLA Bilingual Education and Research Group, Reynaldo Macias, Ph.D.
Worked on quantitative study that examined the changes in statewide teacher education programs' content and atmosphere, school districts’ hiring and placement practices and policies, and school level teaching assignments in a post-Proposition 227 era. Also collected and analyzed state educational agencies annual reports of Limited English Proficient (LEP) student numbers and available services for this population on a national level.
1998 - 1999 Graduate Student Researcher, UCLA GSE & IS, Daniel Solorzano, Ph.D.
Worked with ethnographic research team interested in development and role of Agencies of Transformational Resistance in low-income Chicano/a communities and participants' self-transformation within these organizations.
1998 Graduate Student Researcher
UCLA Sociology, Min Zhou, Ph.D.
Individually responsible for asset mapping project examining the types of organizations that potentially contribute to immigrant Latino families' success within Pico Union neighborhood.
1997 - 1998 Graduate Student Researcher, UCLA GSE & IS, Alfredo Artiles, Ph.D.
Worked with research team interested in how pre-service teachers appropriate and practice theory, particularly Social-Cultural theory.
1996 - 1998 Graduate Student Researcher, UCLA GSE & IS, Carollee Howes, Ph.D.
Worked with research team on national project interested in assessing the needs of families and the effects of services provided by Early Head Start program in area of Venice, West LA, and Inglewood.
PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS
· Paper Presentation: A Critical Race Fairy Tale: Critical Race Quantitative Intersectionality, An Anti-Racist Research Paradigm that Refuses to “Let the Numbers Speak for Themselves.” Institute for Intersectionality Research and Policy, Vancouver, Canada, May 4, 2012
· Paper Presentation: “Beyond Black and White: Critical Studies in Asian American and Latino’s Struggles for Multiracial Democracy, Human Rights, and Education,” 2011 American Educational Studies Association, St. Louis, Missouri, November, 2011.
· Paper Presentation: “Chicano High School Push-Outs: ( Non-)educational construction of boys of color,” 5th Annual Critical Race Studies in Education Association Conference, San Antonio, Texas, May, 2011.
· Paper Presentation: “The Intersectional Chicana/o Educational Pipeline: Exploring the impact of race, class, gender, citizenship and space on Chicana/o Educational Attainment,” 5th Annual Critical Race Studies in Education Association Conference, San Antonio, Texas, May, 2011.
· Paper Presentation: “Quantitative Intersectionality: A Critical Race Analysis of the Chicana/o Educational Pipeline," Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, April, 2011.
· Paper Presentation: “The Military Educational Pipeline: The U.S. Armed Forces as an entry point for Chicanas/os into higher education," Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, April, 2011.
· Paper Presentation: “The (Im)migration Educational Pipeline: The impact of citizenship status on educational attainment for people of Mexican ancestry," Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, April, 2011.
· Paper Presentation: “The Chicana/o Educational Pipeline “in Space”: Using GIS to explore the socio-spatial dimensions of Chicana/o educational attainment," Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, April, 2011.
· The Military Educational Pipeline: The US Armed Forces as a limited entry point for Chicanas/os into higher education, Los Angeles, CA; Keynote Speaker for National Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration at VA Medical Center, 2010
· Revisiting the Chicana/o Educational Pipeline: An Intersectional Analysis. Los Angeles, CA, Guest Lecturer at Daniel Solorzano’s Research Apprenticeship Course, University of California, Los Angeles, 2010
· Engendering the Chicana/o Educational Pipeline. Northridge, CA, Guest Lecturer at Miguel Ceja’s ELPS 417 Course "Equity and Diversity in Schools." California State University, Northridge, 2010
· Pedagogy of Resistance: The tension between maintaining community and consciousness-raising, New Brunswick, NJ, National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies, 2009
· “I didn’t drop out. I got kicked out:” an examination of gender and “push-outs”. New Brunswick, NJ, National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies, 2009
· Asset-based Youth Leadership Development, Harlem, NY, 2008
· A Leadership-Based Process for Effective Job Placement, Flushing, NY, 2008
· Transforming Deficit Thinking to Asset Based youth Development, Redondo Beach, Academy for Transformation, 2007
· Theories of Reproduction, Resistance, and Critical Race Theory, Redondo Beach, Academy for Transformation, 2006 & 2007
· Youth Development in Workforce Development, Anaheim, Department of Labor, 2006
· Leadership Development for Social Justice, Los Angeles, 2006
· Social Justice and High Outcomes, Boston, 2006
· Professional presentation: Making Web-based Student Tracking Application (WebSTA) Work for You! Miami, 2005
· Community Building for High Educational Outcomes, 2005
· Professional presentation: Key to High Educational Outcomes Within YouthBuild Program, Miami, 2005
· Paper Presentation: “Agencies of Transformational Resistance: Dismantling Injustice at Intersection of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality through LatCrit Praxis,” Sixth Annual LatCrit Conference, Gainesville, Florida, April, 2001.
· Paper Presentation: “Agencies of Transformational Resistance: Transforming the Intersection of race, class, and gender discrimination through Latino Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) and Praxis,” National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies, Tucson, Arizona, April, 2001.
· Paper Presentation: “The Contributions of LatCrit to the Field of Education,” Fifth Annual LatCrit Conference, Breckenridge, Colorado, May 2000
· Paper Presentation: "Stories of Young Scholars: Chicanos in a Doctoral Program of Education," Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 2000.
· Co-Presenter, Paper Presentation: "Latino Critical Race Theory: Its Emergence and Development in Education," Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 2000.
· Co-Presenter, (with Dr. Reynaldo Macias) Paper Presentation: " Through the Eye of a Needle: Bilingual Teachers and Credentialing in a Post-227 California," Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 2000.
· Co-Presenter: “Chicana/o Scholarship for a New Millennium: Lessons from Educational Resistance,” National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies, Portland, Oregon, March 2000
· Paper Presentation: "Language, Race and Social Justice: The Graduate School Experience of a Young Chicano," 4th Annual National Conference of People of Color in Predominantly White Institutions, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, October 1999.
· Co-Presenter, Paper Presentation: "Reconceptualizing Social Justice at the Intersection from a LatCrit Perspective," 4th Annual National Conference of People of Color in Predominantly White Institutions, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, October 1999.
· Co-Presenter, Paper Presentation: “Creating a Community of Resistance within the Margins of a Predominantly White Graduate School of Education: Reconceptualizing Social Justice at the Intersections from a LatCrit Perspective,” 4th Annual National Conference of People of Color in Predominantly White Institutions, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, October 1999.
· Paper Presentation: "LatCrit Theory and Agencies of Transformational Resistance within the Intersection," Reclaiming Voice Conference, University of California, Irvine, 1999.
· Guest Lecturer: "Centering Marginalized Discourses in Academia," Pacific Oaks College, 1998.
· Presentation: "Understanding Adolescence and Enhancing Educational Opportunities," Mission Community College and California State Northridge, 1998.
· Presentation: "Community Service and the Self: Grassroots Organizing in East Los Angeles," University of California, Berkeley, 1995.
YOUTH AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
2012 - present Executive Director, Founder
Institute of Service-Learning, Power and Intersectional Research (INSPIRE); Watts, CA
Founded organization positioning youth ages 17-24 to learn about, design and carry-out original, sound academic research projects for and about their communities in an effort to effect policy recommendations and change. Organization also produces reciprocally beneficial relationship for service-learning, research and mobilization projects that start from community perspectives. Write grants to support programming; Establish infrastructure, mission, partnerships, and resources for new program implementation; Develop curriculum and Teach; Create and support development of staff team; Recruit youth and community to participate in program development. Assess policy and mobilize with others to develop community driven policy solutions.
2007 – 2013 CEO, Founder
ATR (Agencies of Transformational Resistance) Consulting; Whittier
Provide fund development, grant writing, program evaluation, executive coaching, curriculum development, facilitation of community forums, financial management, strategic vision planning, and general non-profit, leadership and education trainings. Raised millions of dollars for clients through grant writing.
1/09 - 12/2009 Director / Senior Advisor for Graduate Leadership
YouthBuild USA; Whittier
Organize and mobilize national network of thousands of low-income young people looking to impact national policy and local issues. Create national internet-based mode of communication for network, including webcast, webpage, and email communications. Develop leadership curriculum grounded in social justice and popular education.