Gabriela Kovats Sánchez

Gabriela Kovats Sanchez, woman with her hair back is wearing large earrings and a colorful necklace while smiling widely directly into the camera outside in front of bushes of flowers and trees.

Postdoctoral Scholar

  • Public Scholarship and Engagement
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What I Do 

As a postdoctoral scholar, I contribute to assessing and evaluating the internal and external impact of community engagement at UC Davis. I collaborate with multiple university-wide units to develop and implement a collective impact framework across the university's community engagement ecosystem, which includes academic integration, institutional partnerships and community health and wealth. 

More About Me 

Previously, I was the faculty scholar for the Native Resource Center and Center for Intercultural Relations at San Diego State University (SDSU), where I directed the Elymash Yuuchaap Indigenous Leaders and Scholars Program and Multicultural Learning Community for first-year and transfer students. I also developed academic, cultural and community-centered programming for SDSU’s Division of Student Affairs and Campus Diversity. From 2019 to 2021, I was a postdoctoral research fellow with SDSU’s Research and Equity Scholarship Institute. Additionally, I have taught Chicana/o Studies and American Indian Studies at SDSU and San Diego City College since 2017.

Education 

  • Ph.D., Education, Claremont Graduate University 
  • M.A., Latin American Studies, San Diego State University
  • B.A., International Relations, University of California, Davis 

Affiliations

  • Board Member, Un Mar de Colores 
  • Community Advisory Council, Centro Cultural de la Raza 

Research Interests 

My research focuses on reconceptualizing Latinidad in higher education and recognizing the racial, cultural and linguistic variability of Indigenous communities of Abya Yala living in the United States. Specifically, I have highlighted the educational experiences of Ñuu Savi (Mixtec) and Bene Xhon (Zapotec) students and the implications of Indigeneity for HSIs and emerging HSIs. This work is deeply tied to my long-time involvement with and for Ñuu Savi communities along the U.S.-Mexico border and my experiences growing up in Guerrero, Mexico, and California’s Central Valley. 

Selected Publications 

  • Kovats Sánchez, G., Mesinas, M., Casanova, S., Barillas Chon, D. W., Pentón Herrera, L. J. (2022). Creating Positive Learning Communities for Diasporic Indigenous Students. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2159033
  • Herrera, F. and Kovats Sánchez, G. (2022). Curando La Comunidad [Healing the Community]: Community-Centered STEM Identity. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/15381927211069543
  • Kovats Sánchez, G. (2021). “If we don’t do it, nobody is going to talk about it”: Indigenous Students Disrupting Monolithic Notions of Latinidad at Hispanic Serving Institutions. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Open Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211059194
  • Steinman, E. and Kovats Sánchez, G. (2021). Magnifying and Healing Colonial Trauma in Higher Education: Persistent Settler Colonial Dynamics at the Indigenizing University. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.