Faculty Directory
Stella M. Flores
John E. Cawthorne Millennium Chair
Professor
Stella M. Flores
MPAff; EdM; EdD
Contact
Telephone: (617) 552-0215
Email: stella.flores@bc.edu
ORCID
Education
- Ed.D., Harvard University
- Ed.M., Harvard University
- MPAff, University of Texas Austin
- BA, Rice University.
Research Interests
- Higher Education & Public Policy
- College Access & Completion for Underrepresented Students
- The Role of Alternative Intelligence (AI) in Education Policy and Practice
- Immigration & English Learner Students in Education
- Financial Aid & Affirmative Action Policy
- Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs)
- Equity and access in Global Education Policy
Expertise
- Educational Leadership & Policy
- Educational Policy
- Equity and Social Justice
- Higher Education
Department
Biography
Dr. Stella M. Flores is the John E. Cawthorne Millennium Chair Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College. Her research focuses on the impact of U.S. policy鈥攆ederal, state, and institutional鈥攐n the college access and success of low-income, underrepresented, and immigrant students across the K鈥�20 pipeline.
Dr. Flores employs large-scale datasets and quantitative methods to study topics including demographic change in education, diversity in higher education, financial aid policy, college completion, and the role of Minority Serving Institutions. Her co-authored research was cited in the dissenting opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 Gratz v. Bollinger decision (2003) and in multiple amicus briefs related to affirmative action in higher education.
Her current projects examine the long-term outcomes of state financial aid programs, the role of immigration and citizenship status in shaping educational attainment, and the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support research and policy analysis in education and workforce systems.
Prior to her academic career, Dr. Flores served as a congressional evaluator with the U.S. Government Accountability Office and as a program specialist with the U.S. Economic Development Administration. She brings a deep commitment to interdisciplinary research, public service, and mentoring. Her work has contributed to national policy conversations and has been featured in both scholarly publications and major media outlets. She has presented her research internationally鈥攊n countries such as Australia, Austria, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Spain鈥攁nd at prominent institutions including the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, the National Press Club, and policy forums sponsored by the White House.
Honors & Awards
- Ranked among the Top 50 Voices to Follow in Higher Education by Vevox (2024)
- Consistently listed among Education Week鈥檚 Top 200 Policy Scholars - RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings (2015鈥揚resent)
- Harvard Graduate School of Education Alumni Council Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education (2019)
- Co-Editor AERA Open
- Top 25 Women in Higher Education and Beyond (Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 2017)
- The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Committee on Developing Indicators of Educational Equity (Invited Committee Member)
- National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow (2010)
Grants & Fellowships
- The Spencer Foundation
- National Science Foundation
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- National Academy of Education & Spencer Foundation
- Educational Testing Service
Select Publications
Giani, M. S., Murphy, R., Flores, S. M., Barash, J., Dixon, B., and Mena Bernal, J. 鈥淔rom Passive Promises to Proactive Guarantees: The Efficacy of Financial Certainty Interventions Among Automatically (In)Admissible Students.鈥� (EdWorkingPaper: 25-1158). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://doi.org/10.26300/bk34-s137
Cherng, H. Y. S., Hsin, A. Moreno, M. Carroll, T. Okazaki, S., Flores, S. M., and Lee, O. (2024). A聽Flawed Policy Metaphor: An Empirical Test of Earlier Academic Promise and Later STEM, American Journal of Education.
Flores, S. M., Lyons, S., Carroll, T., & Zapata, D. (2022). Race, place and citizenship: The influence of segregation on Latino educational attainment. The Journal of Law and Inequality, 40 (1), 69-98.聽聽
Flores, S. M., Carroll, T., & Lyons, S. M. (2021). Beyond the tipping point: Searching for a new vision for Latino college success in the United States. The Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science, 696 (1), 128-155.
Melguizo, T., Flores, S. M., Velasquez, D., & Carroll, T. (2021). Lost in the transition: The cost of college-readiness English standards misalignment for students initially classified as English Learners. The Journal of Higher Education, 92 (5), 815-846.聽
Flores, S. M., Park, T. J., Viano, S., & Coca, V. (2018). State policy and the educational outcomes of English Learner and immigrant students: Three administrative data stories. American Behavioral Scientist,聽 61 (14), 1824鈥�1844.聽
Park, T. J., Flores, S. M., & Ryan, C. J. (2018). Labor market returns for graduates of Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Research in Higher Education, 59 (1), 29-53.聽
Flores, S. M., Park, T. J., & Baker, D. (2017). The racial college completion gap: Evidence from Texas. Journal of Higher Education, 88 (6), 894-921.
Flores, S. M. (2022). Commentary. In Orfield, G., The walls around college opportunity: The failure of colorblind policy (pp. 281-294). Princeton, NJ. Princeton University Press.聽
Flores, S. M., Holzman, B., Oseguera, L. (2020). Data quality in the evaluation of Latino student success. In Teranishi, R. T., Mai, B., Nguyen, D., Alcantar, C. M., and Curammeng, E. R. (Eds.), Measuring race: Why disaggregating data matters for addressing educational inequality, (pp. 170-194). NY: Teachers College Press.聽