Ishara Casellas Connors

While at CASBS, Ishara Casellas Connors will continue her research on the postsecondary education pathways of displaced learners. Drawing on interviews with displaced learners, education administrators, and resettlement agency staff, Casellas Connors examines the complex and often contradictory policy landscape shaping access to and participation in postsecondary education. Through this work, she provides insights into how new arrivals navigate postsecondary education in the United States.

Casellas Connors is an assistant professor in the department of public service and administration at Texas A&M University. Her research examines the intersection of state and federal policy with institutional practices, focusing on Hispanic-Serving Institutions, refugees and other new arrivals, and the experiences of Afro-Latine and refugee students. Her work addresses barriers at the policy, organizational, and individual levels within higher education and the public sector more broadly.

Casellas Connors holds a PhD in higher education from the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College and an MA from Teachers College, Columbia University.