Hope Pacheco

Higher Education Leadership and Policy Studies
University of Houston

Hope Pacheco’s identities and experiences shape her approach to her work, research and engagement with students. Hope is a proud Latina/Chicana, a Mami-scholar, a recovered high school drop-out, a first-generation college graduate, a scholar-practitioner, a mentor, a researcher, a social worker, an advocate, an educator, and an equity-minded administrator. She has worked for and on behalf of students accessing and advancing their educational opportunities her entire career. She seeks to create, nurture, and develop opportunities, systems, policies, and knowledge to help Latina/o/x students succeed in their academic and career goals and help them find a place of belonging. She is a co-founder of Las Comadres College Mentoring Program, pairing first-generation undergraduate Latina students, with similarly identified faculty, staff, graduate student and community mentors.  Hope serves as a Co-PI on a longitudinal study with Las Comadres that examines the experiences of Latina students, staff, and faculty at the University of Houston, a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI).

Her candidacy research study "Exploring the Experiences of Latina Front-facing Staff, In A Latina College Mentoring Program at a Research-1,Hispanic-Serving Institution" aims to center, explore, and examine the perceptions and experiences of Latina front-facing staff who have participated as mentors in Las Comadres.