Rebeca Burciaga, PhD

Rebeca Burciaga

Professor, Educational Leadership

Faculty Executive Director, Institute for Emancipatory Education

Dr. Rebeca Burciaga is the Faculty Executive Director of the Institute for Emancipatory Education and a Professor of Educational Leadership & Chicana and Chicano Studies. Her research is nested in the nepantla (borderlands) of Education and Chicana/o Studies and focuses on the schooling experiences of Chicanx and Latinx students, families, communities, educators, and leaders. Her current project focuses on culturally sustaining approaches to school leadership. Dr. Burciaga’s areas of expertise include qualitative methodologies (testimonio & ethnography), critical theories (critical race theory & Chicana feminist theory), and critical pedagogies. Her research has been supported by highly competitive funding including the Spencer Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.

Education

  • Ph.D., Social Sciences and Comparative Education with an emphasis in Race and Ethnic Studies, UCLA
  • Ed.M., Administration, Planning, and Social Policy, Harvard Graduate School of Education
  • B.A., Latin American and Latina/o Studies, UC Santa Cruz

Recent Publications

  • Burciaga, R. & Tavares, A. (2021). Coraje y Amor: Bilingual Bicoastal Leadership from Preschool to the Professoriate. In M. A. Martinez, & S. Méndez – Morse (Eds.), Latinas Leading Schools. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
  • Burciaga, R., & Lattimer, H. (2020, Fall). Innovative programs: Emancipatory school leadership: San Jose State University educational leadership MA program. UCEA Review, 61(3). http://www.ucea.org/resource/ucea-review/
  • Whitenack, D., Golloher, A., & Burciaga, R. (2019). Intersectionally reculturing educational leader preparation and practice for all students. Journal of the California Association of Professors of Educational Administration, 31
  • Covarrubias, A., Nava, P., Lara, A., Burciaga, R., & Solorzano, D.G. (2018). Expanding educational pipelines: Critical race quantitative intersectionality as a transactional methodology. In J. DeCuir-Gunby, T. Chapman, & P.A. Schultz (Eds.), Understanding critical race research
    methods and methodologies: Lessons from the field. New York: Routledge.
  • Burciaga, R., & Kohli, R. (2018). Disrupting whitestream measures of teacher quality: The community cultural wealth of teachers of color. Multicultural Perspectives, 20:1, 5-12.

Recent Presentations

  • Burciaga, R. (2021, March). Invited Panelist, Preparing School Leaders: Prioritizing Justice and Equity. California State University. CSU School Leadership Programs, Webinar Sponsored by the California State University’s Office of the Chancellor, Long Beach, CA.
  • Burciaga, R., Martinez, M., Mendez-Morse, S., Bagula, F., Tavares, A., & Medina, J. (2021, March). Latinas Leading Schools. The Emancipatory Education Speaker Series, San José State University, Connie L. Lurie College of Education, San José, CA.
  • Burciaga, R. (2021, March) Emancipatory School Leadership: La Educación Nace En La Cuna. Cultivating Critically Conscious & Culturally Competent Educational Leadership Speaker Series. Trinity University, San Antonio TX.
  • Burciaga, R. (2020, November). Testimonio as an emancipatory pedagogy: teaching. Lurie College of Education Symposium, San José State University, San José, CA.
  • Burciaga, R. (2020, May). Testimonio: Education y Educación. Plenary keynote at the Critical Race Studies in Education Association, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware. https://www.crsea.org/conference (Conference Canceled).
  • Burciaga, R., Pizarro, M. & Kohli, R. (2020, April). Professional Development. Beyond the Technical: Critical Professional Development Supporting the Holistic Needs of Teachers of Color [Invited Roundtable]. AERA Annual Meeting San Francisco, CA http://tinyurl.com/vv53nb6 (Conference Canceled)
  • Burciaga, R. & Tavares, A. (2020, February). Latinas Leading Schools: An Act of Resistance. School Leaders of Color Conference. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Noteworthy Grants and Awards

  • 2020 | Faculty Research Fellow, Latinx Education Research Center, Santa Clara University
  • 2020 | Innovative Program Selection: Emancipatory School Leadership Program, University, Council of Education Administration (UCEA)
  • 2018 - Present | San José State University, Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (RSCA) Award
  • 2015 William J. Davis Award, presented by the Editorial Board of the Educational Administration Quarterly for the most outstanding paper published in the journal during the preceding volume year: López, G.R., & Burciaga, R. (2014). The troublesome legacy of Brown v. Board of Education. Educational Administration Quarterly, 50(5), 796–811

Online Resources

  • Dr. Rebeca Burciaga presented "Testimonio as an Emancipatory Pedagogy" at the Fall 2020 Lurie College Faculty Research Symposium. Watch the full recording above - Dr. Burciaga begins speaking at 31:12.
  • Burciaga, R. (Host). (2020, June 12). Mujer Divina/The Divine Feminine: How To Reclaim Your Power as A Mujer (womxn) Within the Latinx Community [Spartan Sabiduría Podcast]. Retrieved from
    sjsu.edu/chicanxlatinxssc/resources/podcast

Areas of Research Interest

  • Chicana/o & Latina/o Education & Educación: Pre-schooling – Profession
  • Chicana & Latina Feminist Epistemologies & Pedagogies
  • Critical Race Theory (CRT) & Latina/o Critical Theory (LatCrit)
  • Educational Leadership with Latina/o Communities
  • Testimonio as Methodology & Pedagogy

Personality Playlist

Listen to Rebeca's playlist below and access all of the personality playlists on our Lurie College of Education Spotify account