College of Education and Human Development

Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development

People

Roberto C. Orozco

  • Assistant Professor

Roberto C. Orozco is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities.

    DEGREES

    Ph.D., Higher Education, Rutgers University–New Brunswick (Certificate in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies)
    M.S., Higher Education, Florida State University
    B.S., Marketing and International Business, Iowa State University
    B.S., Psychology, Iowa State University

      AREAS OF INTEREST

      QTPOC in higher education
      Jotería studies
      Chicana Latina feminist methodologies
      College student activism
      College student development

        BIOGRAPHY

        Profile

        Roberto C. Orozco is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. He is also an affiliate faculty with the Department of Chicano Latino Studies. His research explores questions around race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality with relation to college student activism, student development, and queer resistance and worldmaking in and outside of higher education contexts. He grounds his work at the intersection of Jotería Studies, Critical Race Theory, and Chicana Latina Feminisms to examine the identity and socio-political consciousness of queer Latinx/a/o student activists in higher education. His professional experiences in student affairs and higher education include his role as the Director of the Center for Social Justice at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; his roles within the Center for Leadership & Social Change at Florida State University, and his work in the Division of Enrollment Management and the Tyler Clementi Center at Rutgers University–New Brunswick.

        Honors and Recognition

        • American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education, Early Career Award (2026)
        • 2025 NASPA Emerging Faculty Leaders Academy, Cohort X (2025)
        • Gender and Sexuality Knowledge Community–Intersectional Inclusion Research Award (2025)
        • Gender and Sexuality Knowledge Community–Exemplary Program Award for the Queer and Trans Latinx Collective in Higher Education (2025)
        • Rutgers University–New Brunswick, Graduate School of Education Alumni Association’s Evelyn Headley Award for Outstanding Dissertation (2023)
        • American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education Outstanding Dissertation Competition, 2nd place (2023)
        • National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Ford Foundation (2021)
        • Rutgers University–New Brunswick Dissertation Completion Fellowship, University and Louis Bevier Fellowship (2020)
        • American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education Graduate Fellow (2020)

        Professional Affiliations

        • Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)
        • Association of Jotería Arts, Activism, and Scholarship (AJAAS)
        • American Education Research Association (AERA)
        • National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA)
        • National Association of Chicano and Chicana Studies (NACCS)
        • American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE)
          PUBLICATIONS

          Orozco, R. C. (2025). Queer Latinx/a/o college student activist liberatory praxis: The Muxerista Activist Consciousness Development Framework. Journal of College Student Development, 66(5), 499-516.

          Orozco, R. C., Williams, J.* (2025). Imagining possibilities…visionary organizing: A praxis of joy, love, hope, and liberation for queer Latinx/a/o college student activists. Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education, 2(2), 1-11. 

          Orozco, R. C. (2025). Entre ser y no ser: Identity development negotiations of queer Latinx/a/o college student activists. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 18(Suppl 1), S296-S305. 

          Pulido, G., Orozco, R., Gonzalez, S., Gonzalez, A., Duran, A., Serrano, B., Cataño, Y., Ortiz, G., & Santos Mendoza, G. (2024). The story of the Queer and Trans Latinx Higher Education: Revealing the power of the group using queer pláticas. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.

          Orozco, R.C. (2024). Entre ser y no ser: Identity development negotiations of queer Latinx/a/o college student activists. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.

          Orozco, R.C., Duran, A., & Pulido, G. (2023). Creando mundos y futuros de Jotería: Ofrendas of queertorship for and by queer and trans Latinx/a/o people. Journal of Latinos and Education.

          Gonzalez, A., Orozco, R.C., Gonzalez, S. (2023). Joteando y mariconadas: Theorizing queer pláticas for queer and/or trans Latinx/a/o research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. 

          Camacho Jr., L., Sanchez, B., Abeyta, M., Gonzalez, S., Gonzalez, A., Orozco, R.C., Camarillo, N., Rodriguez, A., & Cataño, Y. (2023). Survival pláticas of Latinx/a/o scholars during a global pandemic. Samuel Dewitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, & Justice.

          Orozco, R.C. (2023). The Sense of Brown by Jose Esteban Muñoz (review). American Studies, 62(1-2), 171-172.

          Roberto Orozco headshot