Angeles Desantos Quezada is a currently a student Program Coordinator at the University of Texas Austin for the Texas Success Initiative. She recently earned her master’s in Education Policy and Planning within the Education Leadership and Policy Program at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research and interest rest under the lens of Critical Race Theory with a focus on immigrant students, bilingual education, education policy, and ethnic studies. Ángeles is a McNair Scholar and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and minor in Applied Research Methods from San Jose State University.

As a First Gen immigrant, born in Aguascalientes, Mexico and raise in Jalisco, Ángeles has become involved in different advocacy initiatives at the University and in the larger community. As part of the Student Advisory Committee, Co-Chair of the McNair Graduate Student Group, and member of the Ethnic Studies Network of Texas, she strives to center the voices of Black and Latinx students.

She served as the Graduate Assistant for the Transfer-Year-Experience office where she developed strategic support for over 25 students to combat the negative effects of transfer shock, belonging, and transitioning to UT Austin. Ángeles was also a Graduate Research Assistant for the Institute of Urban Policy Research & Analysis (IUPRA), a Southern Education Leadership Initiative Fellow for LatinxEd, and a research assistant for both  “Considering the Immigrant Civic Potential: Latinx Immigrant-origin Youths’Civic Identity Development”  and “Exploring Identity and Transitions among Latinx Community College Transfer Students.”

Ángeles intends to earn her Doctorate degree and become a professor at a community college. In her free time, she enjoys Facetiming her family, painting, and outdoor activities. Ángeles is currently living in the Payaya territory where the people of Yanawana and the Tap Pilam Cuahuiltecans live in the occupied territory known as San Antonio.