Octavio Villalpando Associate Professor 581-3372

Octavio Villalpando is the Associate Vice President for Diversity and Associate Professor of Educational Leadership & Policy at the University of Utah.  He received his Ph.D. and master’s degreed from UCLA in the field of higher education, where he also conducted research in the nationally-renown Higher Education Research Institute. 

His scholarship draws from Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Latina/o Critical Theory (LatCrit) to analyze how inequality in U.S. higher education shapes the educational outcomes and experiences of historically underrepresented students and faculty.  His research was recently cited in the U.S. Supreme Court decision on affirmative action as evidence for maintaining affirmative action in higher education admissions, and has been published in national and international journals in the field of higher education.

He has received postdoctoral research fellowships from the Ford Foundation / National Academy of Sciences and from the California State University system; and has obtained over $1million in research and assessment grants from public and private sources, including the Spencer Foundation and the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

Dr. Villalpando currently serves on the editorial board of the Review of Higher Education, and is associate editor of Educational Administration Quarterly. 

At the University of Utah, he supervises the Ethnic Studies Program, Gender Studies Program, the Center for Ethnic Student Affairs, the American Indian Resource Center, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Resource Center and other related student support services. 

He also teaches courses in the areas of Critical Race Theory, Student Development, Diversity & Multiculturalism in Higher Education, The Impact of College on Students, and Student Affairs.  The College of Education has recognized his scholarly contributions by awarding him the Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award in 2002 and the Outstanding Faculty Research Award in 2005.

Prior to moving to Utah, Dr. Villalpando held several leadership positions in higher education institutions, including serving on the staff of the president of California State University at Monterey Bay as Senior Research Scholar and founding Director of University Planning & Assessment.  Previously, he helped establish and directed a university educational equity program for under-represented college students in the California State University system, and taught high school in the Los Angeles area.

Dr. Villalpando, his wife Professor Dolores Delgado Bernal, and their three children are proud residents of the Rose Park community of Salt Lake City.

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