Sara Chavarria

Sara Chavarria has been designing and conducting informal educational programming that creates learner-centered interactive experiences for underrepresented and marginalized students, as well as for teachers and educators that serve these populations. She is especially interested in best practices for attraction and retention of low income, first generation undergraduate students. More recently, Sara has been connecting College of Education researchers with UArizona faculty to leverage Education science expertise on topics such as Access, Inclusion, Diversity, and Retention of students to facilitate research on effective learning practices for UArizona students and PK-12 audiences. She is also busy collaborating with researchers and staff across campus to facilitate institutional partnerships, support effective initiatives, and advance scholarship that promote equitable access to high-quality STEM experiences, resources, tools, and expertise (also as part of her role within the UArizona STEM Learning Center). Sara is also very interested in student identity frameworks that value their cultural experiences, their heritage, and how that intersects with their higher education experience, especially in STEM career areas. Finally, she is also attentive to best practices associated with faculty and staff training to better mentor and teach marginalized students in their labs or classrooms.