Rate My Professor Iliana Pena

Pena's academic interests focus on critical areas within educational leadership, including issues of access and equity, education law and policy, principal leadership, and organizational change. Her research examines the effects of school closures on principal leadership identity, principals' equity mindsets in practice, and faculty roles in building remote communities of care during crises. Notable publications include "Forging Partnerships: Preparing School Leaders in Complex Environments" (2022), co-authored with Rodolfo Rincones, "A Call for Rethinking Schooling and Leadership in the Time of COVID-19" (2021), "Bridging The GAP between Higher Education and K–12: The Role of Program Coordinators in Educational Leadership Programs" (2023), "Faculty’s Role in Creating a (Remote) Sense of Community Among Faculty and Facilitating Contexts of Care for Students" (2024), "Looking at Equity Through the Rearview Mirror" (2025), "Balance vs. Integration: Finding an Alternative to the Work-Life Intersection" (2023), and "‘You’ve Got to Put the Student First’: Faculty Advisors as Educators and Emotional Laborers in Community College Baccalaureate Contexts" (2023). Her Ed.D. dissertation, "Impact of School Closures on Principal Leadership and Identity" (2020), analyzes how critical incidents shape leadership through phenomenological inquiry. Pena's scholarship has garnered 27 citations, underscoring her contributions to advancing leadership preparation in complex borderland contexts.