ARMANDO LIZARRAGALead ResearcherArmando Lizarraga is a first-generation doctoral student in the program of higher education leadership at The University of Texas at Austin. His research broadly focuses on higher education access, carceral systems, and community colleges. Lizarraga is a qualitative researcher whose work aims to improve and maintain the quality and equity of higher education for minoritized students, specifically incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students. As someone directly impacted by the justice system, he has lived and continues to live through the ripple effects of incarceration. As such, Lizarraga’s current research agenda includes prison education programs, financial aid access for incarcerated individuals, and postsecondary education access. His research has been featured in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. Currently, he is an instructor at a women’s correctional facility through the Texas Prison Education Initiative, a research assistant for Project MALES, and an intern for Appleseed- a public interest justice center that aims to change unjust laws and practices in Texas. Lizarraga is a native of Inglewood, California, and is a child of Mexican immigrant parents.
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