Julián G. Ángel (He/Él/Leti’) is a Chancellor Fellow and PhD student in Policy, Politics, and Leadership in the Berkeley School of Education. Born and raised in New Mexico, Julián found his passion for public education, civic engagement, and community-engaged research in the rich farming community of Hatch. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Chicana and Chicano Studies, specializing in Intersectional Politics and Social Movements, from The University of New Mexico (UNM). Julián's journey through higher education is a testament to the transformative influence of public education and the importance state and federal support.
As an activist-scholar, Julián was heavily involved in various research, student support, and advocacy efforts, including the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP), El Puente Research Fellowship, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, and El Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán (MEChA), which centered his intersectional identities within the adobe tower. The most influential advocacy was when Julián served as the inaugural Program Assistant for HSI Initiatives through El Centro de la Raza under the leadership of Rosa Isela Cervantes. This work, which included co-organizing a symposium with Dr. Gina Ann Garcia on ""Transforming UNM’s HSI Identity and Praxis,"" inspired Julián to pursue his doctoral studies under Dr. Garcia’s mentorship.
At UC Berkeley, Julián is a researcher in Dr. Garcia’s Higher Education Action Research Team (HEART) Lab and mentors students interested in graduate and professional school through the From Day One (FDO) program under the Chicanx Latinx Student Development Center. His current research continues to explore how higher education institutions operationalize minority-serving identities and how these practices can adopt an organizational identity based on equity and justice. Julián draws from education, legal, social science, and Indigenous ways of thinking to explore how organizations perpetuate racialization and social inequalities among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
Julián is a proud first-generation Xicano, high school, and college graduate. Julián is the first in his family to attend graduate school and strives to create more equitable and inclusive spaces in higher education for historically and contemporarily marginalized communities. Julián runs an instragram dedicated to suporting BIPOC graduate students through the application process (follow @bipocgradguide). Fun fact: Julián is currently studying Yucatec Maya and strives to learn Uto-Aztec languages such as Nahutal, Oʼodham, Mayo and many others!!!
Specializations and Interests
Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), Organizational Analysis & Change, Sociology of Higher Education, Decolonial Research & Praxis, Race, Media, and Law
