Casanova, S., Alonso Blanco, V., Radoff, S., Cruz Silva, F. (2024). Cultivating the Transfer Landscape: Using a CRT framework to examine transfer receptivity at a Hispanic Serving Research Institution. Journal of Social Issues. doi: 10.1111/josi.12615
DOIBiography
Valeria Alonso Blanco is a Ph.D. candidate in Social Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). Under the mentorship of Dr. Saskias Casanova in the Migration, Identity, and Education Lab (MIEL), her research examines how Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) support or constrain undocumented Latinx transfer students through institutional practices, policies, and campus climate. Valeria's work explores the intersection of immigration status, transfer student experiences, and institutional 'servingness,' focusing on how staff perceptions shape educational access, belonging, and success for this overlooked student population.
Valeria currently serves as a Transfer Coherence Analyst for Cultivamos Excelencia, an HSI initiative dedicated to enhancing community college outreach and cultivating a transfer-receptive culture at UCSC. Additionally, she will join Google as a UX research intern this summer.
As the first in her family to attend college, Valeria is passionate about paving the way for her younger brothers, hoping to inspire them to pursue higher education. She enjoys hiking, sailing, CrossFit, watching movies, and hanging out with her five cats.
Current Publications
Casanova, S. & Alonso Blanco, V. (2023). "Transfers tend to be an afterthought”: The role of institutional support for staff in creating a receptive culture for transfer students of color. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education
DOICasanova, S., Alonso Blanco, V., Takimoto, A., Vazquez, A., Covarrubias, R., London, R., Azmitia, M., Lewis C. (2021). Learning in the counterspaces of not school. Educational Studies, 57:5, 459-475, doi: 10.1080/00131946.2021.1969936
DOIVaccarino-Ruiz, S.S., Quinteros, K., Alonso Blanco, V., Rodriguez Ramirez, D., Langhout, R.D., Copulsky, D., & Lopezzi, M. (2021). “Yes, they were suffering, but we brought the music:” Social toxicity and possibility during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic for people who are undocumented or unhoused in Santa Cruz County. Journal of Community Psychology in Global Perspective, 7(1), 106-126.
DOILanghout, R.D., Rodriguez Ramirez, D., Vaccarino-Ruiz, S. S, Alonso Blanco, V., Quinteros, K., Copulsky, D., & Lopezzi, M. (2021). Teaching and learning during a pandemic: How one graduate community psychology class quickly incorporated healing justice into our practices. American Journal of Community Psychology. doi: 10.1002/ajcp.12524
DOICasanova, S. & Alonso Blanco, V. (2021). [Review of the book Power to the Transfer Critical Race Theory and a Transfer Receptive Culture Perspectives on Access, Equity, and Diversifying Pathways in P-20 Education, by D. Jain, S.N. Bernal Melendez & A.R. Herrera]. Teachers College Record