On University at Buffalo Week: What can we learn from embracing historically marginalized students on campuses?
Stephen Santa Ramirez, associate professor of higher education at the Graduate School of Education, explores this.
Faculty Bio:
Stephen Santa-Ramirez is an associate professor of higher education at the University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education.
His experiences in U.S. higher education and student affairs include work in multicultural and LGBT+ affairs, residential life and housing services, and migrant student services. In addition to UB, Santa-Ramirez has taught for the Philadelphia Freedom Schools, Michigan State University, the University of Texas at Arlington, and Arizona State University.
Santa-Ramirez’s personal and professional experiences in higher education – and identity as a scholar-practitioner-advocate – have played formative roles in the development of his research agenda, which centers on the lives and knowledge of historically marginalized and economically neglected students. Broadly, he investigates the historical, ideological, and structural inequities that impact Black, Latinx, Indigenous, migrant and other marginalized communities.
By employing critical, student-centered, and asset-based frameworks, he investigates campus racial climate, transitions and belongingness of first-generation students of color, college student activism and resistance, and the various ways race, ethnicity, im/migration status and policy inform the educational experiences of collegians who are undocumented.
In addition to authoring a host of book chapters, some of his published peer-reviewed articles can be located in The Review of Higher Education, The Journal of Higher Education, Journal of First-generation Student Success, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Journal of College Student Development, among others. Additionally, he was the 2023 special issue editor for New Directions for Higher Education titled “Equitable and Humanizing Research, Policy, and Practice With and For Undocumented Collegians in the United States.”
Santa-Ramirez is a 2024-2026 co-chair of the Latinx Network via ACPA-College Student Educators International, an associate editor for the College Student Affairs Journal (CSAJ), and is on the ASHE 2026 conference leadership team as a co-chair for local and community engagement.
Transcript:
Growing up in a mixed-status family, I saw early on how immigration policy creates very real inequities. Those experiences shape my work today, which centers on the lives, knowledge and resistance of historically marginalized and economically neglected students.
As an educator, I’ve worked with students who are citizens, international students and undocumented students. Over time, I began to notice how often higher education relies on one-size-fits-all approaches — and how those approaches miss the realities undocumented students navigate every day. Seeing that pushed me toward advocacy and a central idea in my research called UndocuJoy as Resistance. It’s about highlighting joy, community and brilliance as powerful responses to systems that too often deny hope. At a time when immigration policy remains uncertain, uplifting these stories really matters.
My research looks at how structural inequities shape campus climate, first-generation students’ transitions, and their sense of belonging.
Educators and institutional actors should consider the whole student – beyond the classroom – and design culturally affirming peer mentorship programs, implement policies addressing racial profiling, and ensure campus environments are inclusive of students’ cultural identities.
Ultimately, my scholarship aims to push institutions toward accountability while remaining grounded in the voices and needs of marginalized communities.
Training faculty and staff in culturally sustaining advising practices and supporting Latinx research agendas, as well as those of other marginalized groups, is crucial for promoting retention, and for fostering a sense of belonging.
Undocumented students are already part of our campuses and communities. When we take time to learn from their experiences — the hard parts and the joyful ones — we share the responsibility of support, instead of leaving students to carry it alone.
