Dra. Rikka J. Venturanza

PhD in Social Sciences & Comparative Education - Race, Ethnic, & Cultural Studies

Dr. Rikka J. Venturanza is currently an Asian American Studies faculty member at California State University, Northridge. She earned her Ph.D. at UCLA's School of Education, specializing in Race, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies within the Division of Social Sciences and Comparative Education. Rikka has over a decade of experience teaching college-level Ethnic Studies courses as well as a student affairs practitioner background at minority-serving dual-designated postsecondary institutions. She has shared her scholar-practitioner expertise in various peer-reviewed educational publications including the Review of Educational Research Journal, New Directions for Student Leadership, Stylus Publishing, Routledge Publishing, AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice, and Community, and Asian Pacific Islander American Scholars.

Grounded in ethnic studies, critical race theory, and phenomenological research methods, her current research aims to utilize interdisciplinary, intersectional, and relational frameworks to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at U.S. colleges and universities. With these efforts, Rikka hopes to influence and impact policy and practice to improve the educational outcomes and social mobility of underrepresented immigrant, immigrant-origin, and immigration-impacted college students who are typically first-generation students of color. Prior to her doctoral journey, she led and coordinated DEI institutional programs and lectured ethnic studies courses at public two- and four-year federally funded minority-serving institutions.

Rikka received her MS in Education and BA in Communications at California State University, Fullerton, and her Associate in Liberal Arts at Cypress College.

Dissertation

Toward Achievement, Belonging, and Liberation: A Qualitative Multi-Case Study on the Educational Journeys of Asian American College Students in Undocumented Immigrant Families

Aiming to expand the agenda on U.S. higher education equity advancements towards serving immigration-impacted student populations, this study explores the relationship between race, illegality, and higher education through the educational journeys of Asian Americans in mixed-status families. Through this study, an intersectional framework is utlized to investigate forces that may be hindering or propelling student academic mobility and outcomes. Further, this study seeks to critically examine the conflation of race and illegality as a potential factor in shaping the educational experiences of college students who self-identify as U.S. citizens Asian Americans in a family with at least one undocumented parent. Specifically, this study seeks to identify factors within the student’s home, neighborhood, schools, and current or previous postsecondary campus(es) that may be influencing how students make meaning of race, illegality, and how their educational experiences complicate or enhance these understandings throughout their educational journey. The following questions guide this study:

In what ways is being a U.S. citizen Asian American in a mixed-status family a factor in their postsecondary educational trajectory and outcomes?
How do U.S. citizen Asian Americans in mixed-status families make sense of their educational experiences separate from, yet in relation to, other undocumented communities in the U.S.?

Read the Abstract

Research has revealed issues of race and racism negatively affect the educational experiences of Asian American students. Challenges and barriers linked to illegality have also been found to generate educational inequities among United States (U.S.) citizens in undocumented im/migrant families – also known as mixed-status families. Yet, despite this empirical evidence, a growing subpopulation of Asian American students who are U.S. citizen members of a mixed-status family remains an understudied phenomenon. Aiming to advance equity agendas toward serving student populations impacted by immigration policy, this study utilizes intersectional frameworks to structurally analyze the relationship between race, illegality, and higher education. Conversely, a relational framework is used to understand the role of race in the day-to-day Asian American experiences of illegality. To further interrogate the essence of this phenomenon, a critical phenomenological qualitative case-study approach is used to examine the educational experiences of U.S. citizen Asian Americans in a family with at least one undocumented parent. In doing so, gather the most detailed information to produce action research toward immigration-impacted student inclusion and justice across systems and institutions.

Based on 10 students currently or previously enrolled at public postsecondary institutions in California, findings reveal Asian American students in mixed-status families endure a variation of constraining and contradictory conditions that hinder yet propel them towards their educational journey. Due to the compounded experiences of race and illegality, and more so in the context of higher education as emerging adults, findings suggest the educational journey of this student population often transforms into the following: 1) a path to achievement: students developed an extraordinary sense of responsibility, dedication, or hypervigilance to achieve academic and/or career goals, 2) a search for belonging: student experiences of educational inclusion and exclusion led to a relational search for community, support, and resources, and 3) a quest towards liberation: students sense of dis/empowerment and their family’s plight toward safety, stability, and prosperity were deeply interconnected with their educational and/or career aspirations. Altogether, the findings of this study demonstrate the conflation of race and illegality, while in flux through space and time, as a significant factor in shaping the educational journeys of this student population, and how race differentiates experiences of illegality for Asian American students.

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