Luis A. Leyva
Assistant Professor, Mathematics Education, Department of Teaching and Learning
Faculty Affiliate, Women's & Gender Studies Program
RESEARCH
At intersections of gender studies, higher education, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), Leyva’s research examines historically marginalized students’ narratives of oppression and agency to uncover interlocking functions of racism and cisheteropatriarchy across undergraduate STEM contexts. His research informs inclusive practices in classroom teaching and co-curricular support spaces that affirm students’ intersectional identities and increase their persistence in STEM majors.
Leyva is presently a 2020 Postdoctoral Fellow with the National Academy of Education and Spencer Foundation. He was recently distinguished with the 2021 Faculty/Staff Award for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion in Vanderbilt University-Peabody College. Leyva’s contributions to the field of mathematics education have been recognized as a 2019 honoree in Lathisms (an online showcase of Latinx mathematics education researchers, American Mathematical Society & Mathematical Association of America), the recipient of the 2018 Early Career Publication Award from the Research in Mathematics Education special interest group of the American Educational Research Association, and awardee of the 2015 Dissertation Fellowshipfrom the National Academy of Education and Spencer Foundation.
Leyva is the director of the PRISM (Power, Resistance & Identity in STEM Education) Research Lab at Peabody College. The lab’s research serves to hold an “intersectional prism” up to historically marginalized students’ narratives of experience to illuminate and disrupt multidimensional forms of oppression in undergraduate STEM education. To learn more about the PRISM and its various research projects, visit the lab website.
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Prior to joining the Peabody faculty, Leyva was certified as a K-12 mathematics teacher in New Jersey and recognized with the 2011 Distinguished Student Teacher of Year Award by the New Jersey Department of Education. He holds over six years of professional experience in higher education programs, including NSF STEP living-learning communities and the Upward Bound Math-Science summer bridge program, designed to increase STEM retention and success among underrepresented groups.
Representative Publications
(Please e-mail Dr. Leyva directly for copies of publications)
REFEREED ARTICLES
- Leyva, L.A., McNeill, R. T., Marshall, B. L., & Guzmán, O.A. (2021). “It seems like they purposefully try to make as many kids drop”: An analysis of logics and mechanisms of racial-gendered inequality in introductory mathematics instruction. The Journal of Higher Education. DOI:10.1080/00221546.2021.1879586
- Leyva, L. A. (2021). Black women's counter-stories of resilience and within-group tensions in the white, patriarchal space of mathematics education. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 52(2), 117-151.
- Leyva, L.A., Quea, R., Weber, K., Battey, D., & López, D. (2021). Detailing racialized and gendered mechanisms of undergraduate precalculus and calculus classroom instruction. Cognition & Instruction, 39(1), 1-34.
- Leyva, L. A. (2017). Unpacking the male superiority myth and masculinization of mathematics at the intersections: A review of research on gender in mathematics education. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 48(4), 397-452.
- Leyva, L. A. (2016). An intersectional analysis of Latin@ college women’s counter-stories in mathematics. Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 9(2), 81-121.
- Battey, D., & Leyva, L. A. (2016). A framework for understanding whiteness in mathematics education. Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 9(2), 49-80.
BOOK CHAPTERS and MONOGRAPHS
- Leyva, L. A., & Alley, Z. D. (accepted). “Speaking up more” and “talk[ing] less and less about my goals”: A counter-storytelling of undergraduate Latina women’s critical race-gendered epistemologies as mathematics students and aspiring engineers. Invited book chapter M. Shanahan, B. Kim, K. Koh, P. Preciado-Babb, & M. Takeuchi (Eds.), The learning sciences in conversation: Theories, methodologies, and boundary spaces. Routledge.
- Leyva, L. A., & Alley, Z. D. (2020). A counter-storytelling of struggle and support in Black women’s mathematical talent development and STEM pursuits across white, patriarchal educational spaces. In N. Joseph (Ed.), Understanding the intersections of race, gender, and gifted education: An anthology by and about talented Black girls and women in STEM (pp. 85-106). Information Age.
- Leyva, L. A. (2019). Beyond the binary and at the intersections: Chronicling contemporary developments of gender equity research in mathematics education. Invited chapter in C. Xenofontos (Ed.), Equity in mathematics education: Addressing a changing world (pp. 65-91). Information Age Publishing.
REFEREED CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
- Leyva, L. A. (2018). The counter-storytelling of Latinx men’s co-constructions of masculinities and undergraduate mathematical success. In A. Weinberg, C. Rasmussen, J. Rabin, M. Wawro, & S. Brown (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20thAnnual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (pp. 1031-1040), San Diego, CA.
- Leyva, L. A., Massa, J., & Battey, D. (2016). Queering engineering: A critical analysis of the gendered technical/social dualism in engineering and engineering education. In Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education’s 123rd Annual Conference and Exposition, New Orleans, LA.
MEDIA COVERAGE OF RESEARCH
- Report offers solutions to increase racial equity in math pathways – Diverse: Issues in Higher Education
- Dismantling systemic racism stats in schools, educators say– WGBH News/Local NPR
Courses Taught
- EDUC 6040: Analysis of Teaching (Graduate)
- EDUC 7300: Power & Identity in STEM (Graduate)
- EDUC 8040: Diversity & Equity in Education (Graduate)
- EDUC 9700: Research Groups: Identities across Educational Contexts (Graduate)
- EDUC 9700: Research Groups: Anthropological Inquiry in Education (Graduate)
- MTED 2200: Mathematics for Elementary Teachers (Undergraduate)
- MTED 3250: Teaching Mathematics in Elementary Schools (Undergraduate)
- MTED 3251: Practicum in Elementary Mathematics (Undergraduate)
- MTED 6250: Advanced Teaching of Mathematics in the Elementary School (Graduate)
- WGS 3850: Intersectionality in STEM Higher Education (Undergraduate)