Erin Castro
Bio
Dr. Castro is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy and Associate Dean of Prison Education in the Office of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Utah. A proud first-generation community college transfer student, Dr. Castro earned her PhD in Education Policy Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a graduate student and early career scholar, she volunteered with the Education Justice Project.
In 2016, alongside ten undergraduate students, Dr. Castro founded the University of Utah Prison Education Project, an on-site initiative providing college coursework and programming at the Utah State Prison Correctional Facility. She now oversees the University’s prison education portfolio, which includes degree-granting and credit-bearing instruction for adults incarcerated in Utah and STEM programming for youth-in-custody throughout the state. Dr. Castro was a member of the strategic organizing committee to develop and launch the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison, a national non-profit dedicated to advancing the field of prison higher education.
A widely published scholar, Dr. Castro co-founded the Journal of Higher Education in Prison in 2020 as an executive editor. Her work has been published in journals such as Harvard Educational Review and Journal of College Student Development and funded by foundations such as Ascendium Education Group and Lumina Foundation. Her current project is a planning grant to stand up a national center dedicated to prison education research and leadership.
Areas of expertise:
Prison higher education
Pell grants for incarcerated students
Research and evaluation of prison higher education
Access and college-going pathways
Educational equity
Publications
- Castro, E. L., Montero, E., & Fierros, C. O. (Forthcoming). Xenophobia in prison higher education: Towards recruiting and supporting undocumented incarcerated people. The Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity.
- Castro, E.L., Royer, C.E., Gould, M.R., & Lerman, A.E. (2022). Beyond Pell restoration: Addressing persistent funding challenges in higher education in prison toward racial and economic justice. Alliance for Higher Education in Prison. http://higheredinprison.org
- Castro, E. L. & Royer, C. E. (2021). College admissions in the carceral state. Found in Taylor, R. & Kuntz, A. F. (Eds). (2021). Equity, freedom, and inclusion in higher education: Cases and commentaries in educational ethics. Harvard Education Press.
- Castro, E. L. & Magana, S. (2020). Enhancing the carceral state: Criminal/ized history questions in college admissions. Journal of College Student Development, 61(6), 814-31.
- Castro, E. L. (2020). “They sellin’ us a dream they not preparin’ us for”: College readiness, dysconscious racism, and policy failure in one rural Black high school. Urban Review. 53(4), 617-640.
Research
Dr. Castro’s research seeks to improve policy and practice toward greater equity and access to higher education for currently and formerly incarcerated people. She has consulted with the U.S. Department of Education, served as an advisor for Pell grant reinstatement for incarcerated people, and consults directly with a handful of states in their efforts to draft policy that improves college-going pathways and data infrastructure for incarcerated people. Her most recent research examines the impact and implementation of the Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative funded by Lumina Foundation. Ongoing research supported by Ascendium Philanthropy, ECMC, and the Laughing Gull Foundation surveys the landscape of prison higher education in the U.S. and populates the National Directory of Higher Education in Prison Programs.
Honors & Awards
- College of Education Social Justice and Transformation Award (University of Utah, 2021)
- Beacons of Excellence Award (University of Utah, 2019)
- Pete Suazo Community Service Award (Utah Minority Bar Association, 2018)
- Early Career Teaching Award (University of Utah, 2017)
- College of Education Teaching Award (University of Utah, 2016)