Melissa A. Martinez, PhD

Professor
Department of Counseling, Leadership, Adult Education, and School Psychology
Texas State University

Melissa A. Martinez, PhD is a Professor in the Educational and Community Leadership Master’s and Ph.D. in School Improvement programs at Texas State University. In this role, she is passionate about preparing and supporting school and district leaders who are critical practitioner scholars as well as mentoring those who seek to join the professoriate or are early career scholars. Her research focuses on issues of equity and access along the P-20 education continuum with regards to: 1) college access, college readiness, and college-going cultures for underserved and marginalized student communities, 2) social justice and equity-oriented leadership preparation and Latinx leadership/leaders, and 3) the experiences of faculty of color in academia. Dr. Martinez’s publications include two co-edited books, Latinas Leading Schools (2021) and Latino educational leadership: Serving Latino communities and preparing Latinx leaders across the P-20 pipeline and Latinas leading schools (2018); with over 100 articles, book chapters, conference papers and presentations to her name. Dr. Martinez is also active in professional organizations including the American Educational Research Association and University Council for Educational Administration, and serves as an Associate Editor of AERA Open and has served as a board member of other reputable journals in her field.