Pilar Mendoza

University of Missouri - Columbia

Biographical Abstracts

Pilar Mendoza is a full professor in the Department of Leadership and Policy Analysis, founding director of the International Research Center for the Development of Education (CIIDE), and a faculty fellow in the Cambio Center at the University of Missouri (UM) – Columbia. CIIDE is a unique partnership between the MU College of Education and Human Development and UNIMINUTO, the largest university system in Colombia serving marginalized students throughout the country. In 2019, CIIDE was recognized among the Best Practices in Internationalization in the Americas by the College of the Americas of the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education.

Dr. Mendoza’s scholarly activity has significantly impacted internationalization efforts and the development of higher education in Latin America. She has been recognized with the 2018 MU International Engagement Award, the 2019 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award, and the 2024 ASHE CIHE Award for Significant Research on International Higher Education: Best Article Award Recipient, among others. Her international work has attracted grants from USAID, the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright program, and the U.S. State Department.

Areas of Expertise

• College student retention and success; college affordability; the professoriate
• International and comparative higher education
• Decoloniality, neoliberalism, globalization, and academic capitalism
• Participatory action research
• Critical internationalization