Laura C. Chávez-Moreno
Laura C. Chávez-Moreno is an award-winning researcher, qualitative social scientist, and assistant professor in the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Prof. Chávez-Moreno researches, writes, and teaches about Chicanx/Latinx education. She works at the intersection of education, pedagogy, language, literacy, and ethnic studies, particularly Chicanx/Latinx Studies. Her research has been published in top-tier journals such as Review of Educational Research, Educational Researcher, American Educational Research Journal, Research in the Teaching of English, and Journal of Teacher Education.
Dr. Chávez-Moreno’s research has been recognized with multiple awards, including from the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division G Social Contexts in Education; AERA Latinx Research Issues Special Interest Group (SIG); AERA Bilingual Education Research SIG; American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education; and National Association of Bilingual Education. Notably, she was a fellow of the 2020–2022 cohort of NCTE Research Foundation’s Cultivating New Voices among Scholars of Color, and she was awarded a 2022 National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. Most recently the National Council for Teachers of English awarded the 2023 Alan C. Purves Award to her article in Research in the Teaching of English, “The continuum of racial literacies: Teacher practices countering whitestream bilingual education.”
Prof. Chávez-Moreno is sought after as a speaker by school districts, university organizations, and teacher preparation programs. She draws from her research and extensive teaching experience across a variety of educational levels—including elementary, secondary, tertiary, teacher education, and older-adult education. She served as a high school teacher of Spanish in the Philadelphia Public School District for five years, wrote district curriculum, and served on boards of community organizations. She is deeply committed to mentorship, emphasizing support for students from underrepresented backgrounds and/or those dedicated to social justice causes. Among her many service activities, she has mentored undergraduate and graduate students through several organizations, including the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. She grew up in Douglas, Arizona, and Agua Prieta, Sonora, México.
