Teresa Irene Gonzales

A native of Mexican Chicago, Prof. Teresa Irene Gonzales firmly believes in the capacity of sociology to redress social injustices and inequalities. As a feminist, and a woman of color urbanist, she is rooted in community-engaged pedagogy and scholarship and strives toward a practice of reciprocity in research. She received her doctorate and master’s degrees from the University of California Berkeley in Sociology, and her bachelor’s degree from Smith College in Latin American & Latina/o Studies with a focus on literature and history. She is the recipient of several national prestigious awards and fellowships, including from the Institute for Citizens & Scholars (previously the Woodrow Wilson Foundation), the NASEM Ford Foundation, and the MMUF program. Her work is situated at the intersections of feminist, urban, and organizational theories with a focus on race, gender, class, and structural racism. She has over ten years of experience with analyzing community responses to racial and income marginalization in the United States, with several publications. Gonzales’ work has appeared in the Journal of Urban Affairs, Rural Sociology, Social Problems, and on Academic Minute. She has shared her work at academic conferences, through invited talks, and in more accessible platforms including academic blogs, YouTube interviews, and public radio segments. As part of her commitment to eradicating income- and race-disparities, she has worked with community organizations in Illinois and Massachusetts.