Dr. Stephany Cuevas

Dr. Stephany Cuevas is an Assistant Professor of Education in the Attallah College of Educational Studies at Chapman University.

Dr. Cuevas' interdisciplinary research and practice focus on Latinx family engagement in students' higher education aspirations. Central to her work is the understanding that Latinx students do not experience education in isolation; rather, families play a vital role in shaping students' educational trajectories. Her research investigates these dynamics across K–12 and higher education while also examining the broader forces that shape students’ experiences, including the impact of immigration policy. She explores how family engagement shifts and transforms as first-generation students move through and complete their postsecondary pathways.

Dr. Cuevas’ current scholarship examines the intersection of immigration policy and educational contexts and experiences. She is currently co-leading a Spencer Foundation–funded study investigating how California public schools support the needs of Central American unaccompanied minors and their families. She also continues to explore how family engagement is enacted in higher education settings, particularly for first-generation college students navigating complex institutional structures.

For the past 10 years, Dr. Cuevas has worked to support underrepresented students, their families, and the educators who work with them. She is committed to work that actively seeks to expose and combat issues of inequality. Dr. Cuevas partners with school districts, individual schools, out-of-school programs, and nonprofit community organizations across the United States, offering trainings, curriculum, professional development, and evaluation services on topics related to family engagement in education, postsecondary access for first-generation students, and supporting immigrant and undocumented families. She uses her research training and skills to develop research-based materials and products that strengthen practice and broaden impact.

Dr. Cuevas is the author of Apoyo Sacrificial, Sacrificing Support: How Undocumented Latinx Parents Get Their Children to College (Teachers College Press) and co-author of Everyone Wins! The Evidence for Family-School Partnerships and Implications for Practice (Scholastic). Her scholarship has appeared in the Journal of Higher Education, the Harvard Educational Review, and the Journal of Latinos and Education. Her research has been recognized by the Family-School-Community Partnerships Special Interest Group at the American Education Research Association (AERA), the American Association for Hispanics in Higher Education, and the Association for the Study of Higher Education.