Dr. Rogelio Salazar is a Research & Data Analyst at EdTrust-West. As a K–12 pushout from North County San Diego, Rogelio’s educational journey fueled an early commitment to working as a practitioner in California’s public schools, advocating for and advancing college access, mentoring at-promise youth, engaging families, and supporting TRIO programs. Their professional experience continued with serving first-generation and non-traditional students of color across the California State University and California Community Colleges systems through programs such as the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) and Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS). Through these roles, Rogelio gained comprehensive insight into the state policies, local implementation practices, and organizational dynamics that shape educational opportunities, as well as the systemic challenges and localized efforts to address them. At EdTrust-West, their portfolio includes dual enrollment, financial aid, and student parents. Driven by both their personal and professional experiences, Rogelio earned a Ph.D. from UCLA’s Higher Education and Organizational Change program. At UCLA, their work focused on producing actionable insights into how organizational routines and policies shape opportunities and completion rates in higher education for students of color. Their P-16 research interests include the racialized implementation of dual enrollment, nationally equitable access to state-level college promise programs, school discipline reform, and the implementation and outcomes of California’s community college equity and funding policies for students of color. Their work has been published in The Journal of Higher Education, New Directions for Community Colleges, and the Journal of the Alliance for Hispanic Serving Institution Educators. Their research has also been featured by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) and EdSource. Rogelio’s work has been recognized and funded by the University of California, Davis; Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and Research; the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management; the Just Education Policy Summer Scholars Program; the California State University Young Men of Color Consortium; and the Association for Education Finance and Policy. A product of the California State University system, Rogelio earned a B.A. in Human Development from Cal State San Marcos. They also earned a master’s degree in education from UCLA and an earlier master’s degree in counseling. Rogelio has held roles at the University of Michigan, the Public Policy Institute of California, UCLA’s Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles, and EdTrust-West, where they previously served as a Russlynn Ali Fellow. They are also a longtime researcher with the CCHALES Research Collective at San Diego State University. Rogelio is a native of Oceanside/Bonsall and has spent time across Los Angeles’ South Bay and the Inland Empire.
