INTRODUCTION
Isabel García Valdivia is a postdoctoral fellow at the Population Studies and Training Center at Brown University and formerly a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles, specializing in [im]migration, race and ethnicity, social stratification, and the sociology of the life course.
Isabel’s research focuses on immigrants and their families. She is working on a manuscript on the late adulthood experiences of immigrants, Becoming Invisible: Aging and Stratification for Older Immigrants in the United States and Mexico. Her first solo-authored article, Legal Power in Action: How Latinx Adult Children Mitigate the Effects of Parents’ Legal Status (Social Problems), won two student paper awards from the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) and the American Sociological Association (ASA).
She received her Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.A. in Chicanx/Latinx Studies and Sociology from Pomona College. Isabel’s work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development through the Population Studies and Training Center at Brown University, the Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellowship, multiple UC Berkeley centers and institutes, and the Blum Center at UC Santa Barbara.
RESEARCH
Isabel’s primary research contributes to the debates on immigrant incorporation and migrant illegality of immigrants and their families across the life course.
Her current research is a bi-national project that examines the effects of immigration status on the aging experiences of older Mexican immigrants (50+ years old) in the East Bay, California and return migrants in Los Altos, Jalisco, Mexico.
Additional research interests also include social stratification and social policy-relevant work. Read more about her research here or view her CV.
Find Isabel on Google Scholar, ORCiD, and LinkedIn.
TEACHING & MENTORING
With a focus on discussion and critical thinking, Isabel has taught courses on sociological methods, theory, income inequality, and college readiness. She can also teach courses in core areas (e.g., introduction to sociology, methods, theory) and subject areas including: [im]migration (including immigrant families), race and ethnicity, Latinx sociology, stratification, sociology of the life course, and social policy.
She has guest lectured on immigration, including policy implications. Isabel created a Migration Slide Deck for the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative, which serves as a resource for students, lecturers, and researchers who teach and present on migration-related topics.
Outside of the classroom, Isabel has extensive experience advising and coaching undergraduate students on navigating UC Berkeley, accessing campus resources, building productive relationships with professors, creating community partnerships, and demystifying graduate school, especially with underrepresented students – including first-generation, low-income, students of color, undocumented, women and more.
She also advised peer graduate students through panels, workshops, informal conversations, and her advocacy work via the Sociologists of Colors and Allies student group. Isabel also works with Graduate Dean Lisa García Bedolla on her Listening Tour. They visit all graduate departments and programs to learn more about the challenges graduate education faces.
Read more about her teaching and mentoring experience here.
LIFE
Isabel is originally from Joliet, Illinois and now lives in Rhode Island. She is pup-mom to Emilio, a Durkheimian Shih Tzu. Follow him on Instagram to see a dog’s sociological imagination.
Education and intensive mentorship have transformed Isabel’s life and that of her immediate family members. Isabel’s first role as a teacher and knowledge broker is as an older sister and child language/cultural broker to her immigrant parents. As first-generation college students and children of immigrants, Isabel and all her siblings today hold at least a Bachelor’s degree and work in varied fields: education, healthcare, human/social services, transportation, and utility infrastructure.
She loves to support her community and can frequently be found organizing events, attending marches, mentoring, and connecting with others.
She also loves learning new things, creating new systems of organization, and traveling. In her free time, you will find her learning a new skill, completing do-it-yourself (DIY) projects, or making travel plans.
Connect with her on social media: Twitter (@igarciavaldivia).