About

Dr. Judy Marquez Kiyama is a professor in the Center for the Study of Higher Education within the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Practice at the University of Arizona. She is a community-engaged scholar with nearly 25 years of experience in research, practice, and administration. Her work focuses on interrogating systems of power that perpetuate inequities for minoritized communities and understanding the cultural and collective resources used to confront and reshape such systems. Her research efforts are centered on working alongside Latinx/o/a families and communities, organized around three interconnected areas: the role of parents and families, equity and power in educational research, and minoritized groups as collective networks of change. Dr. Kiyama has held administrative roles including Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Development, where she advanced efforts related to equity-focused faculty recruitment, hiring practices, and faculty capacity development. She has also served as Chair of the Higher Education Department at the University of Denver’s Morgridge College of Education and as the College’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion Faculty Fellow. Her academic career includes faculty positions at the University of Denver and the University of Rochester, where she partnered with organizations to promote equitable educational opportunities for Latinx/o/a immigrant and refugee communities. As a first-generation, Mexican American college student and a three-time graduate of the University of Arizona, she draws on her personal experiences to connect with the support systems that first-generation, families of color offer their students in the transition to college.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Psychology
• Pedagogy
• Public relations
• Political science

Selected publications

• An Emerging Agenda for Engaging Parents and Families in Higher Education

  2025-12-18

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  This forward-looking chapter considers the lessons learned from the contributors that we can apply to our practices, and where we hope this work will continue in the future. This chapter will summarize key points from the preceding chapters and consider how the field and various student affairs, parent and family programs, and research organizations (e.g., AHEPPP, NASPA, ACPA, ASHE, AERA, and Community College associations) help continue connections between research and practice related to engaging with the parents and families of today’s college students. How can we continue this conversation among a diverse range of institutions and students? What challenges and insights/wisdom/promising practices can practitioners share about what they are seeing and doing/navigating within their unique contexts? The work done by parent and family programs offices, as well as that of other campus positions, can be isolating. This volume highlights a few of these voices, and we hope that the conversation will continue.

  PublisherDOI

• Points to Consider

  2025-12-18

  book-chapterSenior author

  Your team has assembled for their weekly staff meeting, or your graduate course is scheduled, and you are preparing activities for weekly discussion. We have put together these section breaks to be an intentional and active resource for this book. Whether you are thinking about engagement with your staff team, your graduate students, and/or with campus colleagues, we hope you can utilize these resources for brainstorming and capacity building.

  PublisherDOI

• “We cannot leave you a better inheritance than an education”: How Latinx Families Cultivate Youth’s College Persistence and Self-Efficacy

  Journal of Adolescent Research · 2025-12-26

  article

  The role of Latinx families in their adolescents’ educational journey is critical for youth development and achievement across K–12 and postsecondary education. This qualitative study, grounded in Funds of Knowledge (FoK) and Phenomenological Variant Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST), explores how Latinx families foster college-going behaviors and self-efficacy among adolescents. Participants included 20 Latinx parents (predominantly mothers) of adolescents in middle and high school as well as college from low- to middle-income households, from the Southwest region of the U.S. Using an embedded case study design, in-depth family interviews were conducted and analyzed using thematic analysis guided by an inductive approach. Three key themes emerged: (1) parental socialization practices that emphasize the value of education, (2) modeling of economic knowledge-sharing and resourcefulness, and (3) cultivation of youth self-efficacy. Findings highlight culturally informed practices by which Latinx families support adolescents’ college-going orientations and sense of self-efficacy. This work underscores the importance of understanding family engagement as a multifaceted process that can be leveraged to advance Latinx youth’s educational attainment.

  PublisherDOI

• Bridging Research and Practice

  2025-12-18

  book-chapter

  This chapter offers a retrospective look at our professional journeys, which were grounded in practice, and what led to our collaborative research interests related to parent and family engagement. We briefly describe some of the key findings from our work and how we see those ideas connecting to practice. We then explain our reasons for this book, who the intended audience is, and the application to practice. With this book, we wanted to highlight the innovations in practice that staff engage in to support the needs of parents, family members, and key supporters of today’s college students. We asked for contributions in the form of case studies, descriptions of programming efforts, campus partnerships, and innovative programs. We also intentionally invited content highlighting the experiences, programs, and/or needs assessments of first-generation, low-income, and Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) families and students.

  PublisherDOI

• Mobilization of Funds of Knowledge in Ecological Environments: Latine Parent Engagement in a College Outreach Program

  Education Sciences · 2024-10-09

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Latine parent educational engagement literature has established that parents employ rich cultural resources across their environments to support the P-20 attainment of their children. In this qualitative case study, we combine the funds of knowledge framework with constructs of ecological systems theory to add a clearer l perspective of how and with whom Latine parents and communities mobilize their funds of knowledge, highlighting their advocacy and agency. Findings identify instances in which Latine parents navigate different social interactions and spaces at various system levels and demonstrate the ways in which college outreach programs can have positive influences beyond the immediate systems of the home and school.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Finding Balance: Staff Members’ Beliefs About Parental Contributions to College Students’ Independence

  Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice · 2023-08-28

  article

  AbstractThis multiple case study draws from interview and observation data from nine institutions to reveal the role that orientation and parent and family programming staff members believe they and parents should play in facilitating students' independence development. Key findings include the importance of balance in involvement and partnering with parents to support students' independence. Results reveal conflicting messages within institutions provided to families about challenge, support, and when and how parents and staff should intervene. Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

  PublisherDOI

• Modeling, Mentoring, and Pedagogy

  2023-06-22

  book-chapter

  This chapter discusses how the public good is reinforced through intentionally training and socializing graduate students to practice community-engaged scholarship. It provides guidance to graduate preparation programs, students, and faculty on how to cultivate space to foster the important student-faculty relationships. Drawing on the diverse experiences and the student-faculty-adviser relationships, the chapter describes, through reflective conversations, how community-engaged scholars are cultivated through modeling, mentoring, and inclusive pedagogy. It encourages the continued use of faculty and student narratives about their experience participating in community-engaged scholarship as it can lead to a deeper understanding of the need for preparation for graduate students toward community-engaged work by creating an ongoing dialogue. Establishing a good rapport with community partners, assigning service-learning sites, and providing on going service to students often comes in addition to the traditional expectations of faculty. Graduate student scholars become conduits for change between communities and universities, reinforcing the role of higher education as a public good.

  PublisherDOI

• Evoking the guerrera spirit: Latinas pursuing self-definition and navigating college access.

  Journal of Diversity in Higher Education · 2023-12-04 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• (Re)Shaping Higher Education Classrooms with Inclusive Pedagogies

  SUNY Press eBooks · 2022-02-01

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• A letter to future scholars in the struggle for justice

  International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education · 2022-02-21 · 1 citations

  letter1st author
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Frequent coauthors

• Gary Rhoades

  11 shared

• Jenny J. Lee

  University of California, Los Angeles

  10 shared

• Casandra E. Harper

  10 shared

• Cecilia Ríos-Aguilar

  8 shared

• Amalia Dache-Gerbino

  Policy Analysis (United States)

  5 shared

• Vicki T. Sapp

  4 shared

• Delma Ramos

  University of North Carolina at Greensboro

  4 shared

• Molly Sarubbi

  Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida

  4 shared