My full name is Melanie Pagán López. I am 1.5 generation Caribbean (im)migrant from Puerto Rico and an inner-city kid from Chicago, currently residing in NYC. At an early age, I felt a deep commitment to my community and understood that I had a special ability to both create change and empower others to be change agents.

My passion for inspiring change was first nurtured by my parents, and then further developed in college with the encouragement of my alma mater’s multicultural center directors. This led me to my work advocating for marginalized and minoritized folks in higher education, specifically BIPOC students, LGBTQIA+ students, low-income and first-generation students, student parents and pregnant students, international students, and students with disabilities.

Currently, I am a graduate researcher and a Ph.D. student in the Education and Inequality, Cross-Disciplinary Theory program at The George Washington University, and the Eckert Graduate Student Leadership Fellow at Simmons College. I earned a master’s in Higher Education Administration at Baruch College and a bachelor’s in art history and sociology from Bradley University.

I have worked in various functional areas of higher education at leading institutions including Connecticut College, Columbia University and Yale University. Before my doctoral studies, I served as an Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. 

As a Ph.D. student, my research focuses on graduate student population, specifically the experiences of graduate students of color with disabilities and the forces that affect their socialization into their field of study and profession. I use Disability Critical Race Theory as the theoretical framework for my research. To learn more about my research, click here. 

Check out my CV to learn more about my education, training, and experiences.