SOE’s Educational Leadership in Social Justice program is pleased to present profiles of our hard-working and talented doctoral students, who are finding ways to make a difference in the world as they earn their degrees with us.
Cassidy Alvarado, a third-year doctoral student, is the Director of the Office of National & International Fellowships (ONIF) at Loyola Marymount University, where she supports students and alumni in identifying and applying for opportunities such as competitive awards, including the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, that support their academic and professional goals. Her dissertation explores access to nationally competitive awards such as he Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship and Fulbright U.S. Student Program among community college and transfer students. In October 2020, Cassidy presented her preliminary findings at the 2020 Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) Ed.D. Student Research Forum.
In addition to her role as ONIF Director, Cassidy is a lecturer in LMU’s Honors Program, an active member of the National Association of Fellowship Advisors, and annually serves as a first-round evaluator for the Critical Language Scholarship, a program of the U.S. Department of State. Prior to joining LMU, she co-established the National & International Scholarships and Fellowships Program at California State University, Los Angeles, where she supported students in pursuing external awards that offered transformative and challenging experiences in the areas of academic and applied research, and global and civic learning. Cassidy also managed the undergraduate Honors thesis process and advised students on internships, research experiences, and pathways to graduate and professional school, while simultaneously assisting Honors College students with internships, research opportunities, and graduate admissions.
Cassidy received a Master of Arts degree in Humanities, with an emphasis in creative writing, from Mount Saint Mary’s University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. As a doctoral student, her research areas of interest include equity and access in higher education, particularly for the vulnerable transfer student population; postgraduate pathways; and international education.
