Lesley Rivas López

(she/her/ella) is a graduate student in the Department of Education Leadership and Policy at The University of Texas at Austin. She currently serves as a Mentoring Site Coordinator for Project Mentoring to Achieve Latino Academic Success (MALES), a research-based mentorship program for boys and young men of color in the Austin area. Her research interests include the educational access and attainment of Latinx students across the pipeline, ethnic studies, and educational equity for underserved students through policy reform and the building of culturally-responsive support models. 

Lesley earned her Bachelor of Arts in Latinx Studies and Spanish from the University of Michigan. She is originally from Chicago, Illinois and is the proud daughter of Mexican immigrants. Being a first-generation Latina scholar, Lesley is deeply passionate about changing the educational opportunities for her community through her research, volunteerism, professional, and academic pursuits.