Bio


Leslie Patricia Luqueño is a 4th-year doctoral candidate at Stanford's Graduate School of Education, specializing in the Sociology of Education. She holds an M.A. in Sociology from Stanford University and a B.A. with honors in Anthropology and Educational Studies from Haverford College. Her research interests lie at the intersection of migration, higher education, and family studies, with a focus on the experiences of the children of immigrants within higher education. Particularly, she is interested in how the children of migrants develop unique pockets of familial and experiential knowledge that help them survive and thrive at college institutions. Furthermore, she is deeply committed to advancing qualitative research methods within sociology and expanding the use of autoethnography, community-based participatory research, and Chicana feminist methodology within the discipline.

Her current projects include: 1) assessing the impact of family and the social environment on college decision-making amongst Latinx students, 2) utilizing data science and qualitative methods to observe how intersectionality manifests within college admissions essays written by Latinx students, 3) understanding how and why some low-income students of color reject notions of elitism and prestige in their college search, and 4) analyzing literacy practices exhibited in the workplace. Leslie’s work has been published in the book Strategies for Fostering Inclusive Classrooms in Higher Education: International Perspectives on Equity and Inclusion (2020) and she is a co-author of the book, Promoting Equity and Justice in Pedagogical Partnership (2021).

Honors & Awards


  • Research, Impact, and Action through Strategic Engagement (RAISE) Doctoral Fellowship, Stanford University (06/01/2022)
  • McCoy Family Center for Ethics Graduate Fellowship, Stanford University (07/30/2021)
  • Haas Center Graduate Public Service Fellowship, Stanford University (07/07/2021)
  • Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, Ford Foundation (03/22/2021)
  • North American Winning Undergraduate Paper in Law/Legal Studies, The Global Undergraduate Awards (09/01/2020)
  • Highly Commended Undergraduate Paper in Sociology/Social Policy, The Global Undergraduate Awards (09/01/2020)
  • Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE) Fellowship, Stanford University (06/01/2020)
  • Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity Fellowship, Stanford University (06/01/2020)
  • Dell Scholars Continuing Graduate Student Scholarship, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (06/01/2020)
  • Departmental Honors in Anthropology, Haverford College (05/27/2020)
  • Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar, Hispanic Scholarship Fund (06/01/2019, 06/01/2020)
  • Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, Haverford College (05/10/2018)

Professional Affiliations and Activities


  • Committee Member, Haverford College Young Alumni Action Group (2022 - Present)
  • Predoctoral Fellow, Ford Foundation (2021 - Present)
  • Graduate Student Fellow, McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society (2021 - Present)
  • Graduate Student Fellow, Haas Center for Public Service (2021 - Present)
  • Graduate Fellow, Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (2020 - Present)
  • Member, Leadership Alliance - Early Identification Program (2019 - Present)
  • Undergraduate Fellow, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (2018 - 2020)

Education & Certifications


  • M.A., Stanford University, Sociology (2022)
  • B.A., Haverford College, Anthropology (honors), Educational Studies (2020)

Research Interests


  • Equity in Education
  • Higher Education
  • Immigrants and Immigration
  • Parents and Family Issues
  • Research Methods
  • Sociology

Current Research and Scholarly Interests


At the heart of my research is the commitment to highlight the unique assets, values, and knowledge sets that immigrant families pass down to their children that help them survive and thrive across different contexts, particularly within higher education. As a college admissions researcher, I investigate how this intergenerational exchange manifests across different aspects of the college application process such as choosing where and whether to apply to college, writing admissions essays, supporting students persist through the application cycle, and inspiring them to pursue higher education through enseñanzas, dichos, and cuentos.

To conduct this research, I employ a wide range of qualitative methods such as interviews, ethnographic participant-observation, discourse analysis, and more to both capture the richness of student experiences and also expand the possibilities of qualitative methodology within the sociology of education. Though qualitative methodology is the centerpiece of most of my work, I also work at the intersection of data science and qualitative methodology, investigating the possibilities of mixed methods research that covers the breadth and depth of student experiences. Devoted to methodological exploration, equity and justice within higher education, and an assets-based perspective on immigrant families, my interdisciplinary research draws from a multitude of fields in order to capture the richness of immigrant descendants' journeys within postsecondary education.

All Publications


  • "I Saw a Change": Enhancing Classroom Equity through Student-Faculty Pedagogical Partnership CANADIAN JOURNAL FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP OF TEACHING AND LEARNING Marquis, E., de Bie, A., Cook-Sather, A., Prasad, S., Luqueno, L., Ntem, A. 2021; 12 (1)
  • Promoting Equity and Justice Through Pedagogical Partnership de Bie, A., Marquis, E., Cook-Sather, A., Luqueño, L. P. Stylus Publishing. 2021
  • VALUING KNOWLEDGE(S) AND CULTIVATING CONFIDENCE: CONTRIBUTIONS OF STUDENT-FACULTY PEDAGOGICAL PARTNERSHIPS TO EPISTEMIC JUSTICE STRATEGIES FOR FOSTERING INCLUSIVE CLASSROOMS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON EQUITY AND INCLUSION de Bie, A., Marquis, E., Cook-Sather, A., Luqueno, L., Hoffman, J., Blessinger, P., Makhanya, M. 2019; 16: 35–48