Lara Perez-Felkner

Biography

Dr. Lara Perez-Felkner is an Associate Professor of Higher Education and Sociology in the Higher Education Program within the College of Education at Florida State University. She is also an Affiliated Faculty member in the Department of Sociology, and Senior Research Associate with FSU’s Center for Postsecondary Success. Additional affiliations: the HOPE Center for College, Community, and Justice; Pathways to Adulthood, and Network Gender and STEM.

Her research uses developmental and sociological perspectives to examine how young people’s social contexts influence their college and career outcomes. She focuses on the mechanisms that shape entry into and persistence in institutions and fields in which they have traditionally been underrepresented. In particular, she investigates racial-ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic disparities in post-secondary educational attainment and entry to scientific career fields.

Degrees

• Ph.D., Comparative Human Development
  University of Chicago ▪ 2009
• M.A., Social Sciences
  University of Chicago ▪ 2005
• B.A., Psychology
  Wesleyan University ▪ 2001