Wilfredo Alvarez

Wilfredo Alvarez, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver, bringing more than 25 years of experience in higher education, intercultural communication, and social justice-focused teaching. His areas of expertise include diversity issues in U.S. society, workplace diversity, immigration, race and ethnicity, social class, organizational communication, organizational culture, intercultural communication, interpersonal communication, conflict, leadership, and intergroup relations.  

Alvarez’s research focuses on the complex relationships among communication, social identity, and power. He examines how macro, meso, and micro communication practices shape, reinforce,e and challenge institutional systems of discrimination, oppression, and inequity. His work has been published in Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies, Management Communication Quarterly, Inter/Cultural Communication: Representation and Construction of Culture in Everyday Interaction, and the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice. He has been a member of the National Communication Association for 21 years. 

Before joining MSU Denver, Alvarez was an associate professor of communication at Utica University in New York. He has also held leadership, advising, and curriculum development roles throughout his academic career. 

Alvarez earned a doctorate in organizing and intercultural communication from the University of Colorado, a master’s degree in interpersonal communication from Florida State University, and a bachelor’s degree in professional and technical communication from the Rochester Institute of Technology.