About Me
Karla Aguilar Marquez, MA, MSW
Bienvenidos! My name is Karla (she/ella). I'm a first-generation PhD student and graduate researcher in the Higher Education & Organizational Change program at the UCLA School of Education & Information Studies. I was born and raised on Tongva and Serrano Lands (Los Angeles & Adelanto, CA). I am the daughter of an Indigenous Oaxaqueño (Chatino/Zapotec) father and a Central American (Honduran) mother. I'm grounded in the in the intergenerational love, joy, ancestral wisdom and resistance shared by my family, lineages and community.
My research, scholarship and practice centers students of color impacted by campus sexual violence navigating their identities, healing and persistence in higher education. I explore relational healing connected to intergenerational lineages and land + nature based healing rooted in ancestral knowledge and practices.
As a practitioner, I've developed and implemented primary prevention strategies and survivor support efforts across several higher education institutions in collaboration with community. I've served as a sexual violence prevention educator, community sexual assault/domestic violence victim advocate and have held various leadership positions in student affairs focused on creating equitable learning spaces for students, staff and faculty.
I earned a double BA in Anthropology and Ethnic Studies from UC Riverside, a Master of Social Work from the University of Southern California, and a MA in Education from UCLA.