Nichole Garcia

Nichole M. Garcia, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Ph.D. in Higher Education program at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Education. Her research examines race, ethnicity, power, and educational opportunity in higher education, with particular attention to Latinx students, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, institutional practices, and the ways data and research can be used to advance equity.

Garcia is a nationally recognized scholar of Critical Race Theory, QuantCrit, Chicana/Latina feminist methodologies, and critical quantitative research. Her methodological scholarship focuses on how researchers can move beyond documenting racial disparities to examine the institutional and structural conditions that produce them. Her work also advances Quantitative Epistemic Network Analysis as a critical approach to studying race and racism in education.

She is the author of LatinX Students in Higher Education and has published scholarship in leading education journals, including Educational Researcher and Review of Educational Research. Garcia also serves in editorial leadership roles across major education journals and regularly mentors doctoral students and emerging scholars in higher education research. Her work brings together empirical inquiry, methodological innovation, and a commitment to producing research that informs institutional practice, policy, and the educational experiences of students and communities historically underserved by higher education.