Manuel Del Real

Manuel Del Real, Ph.D., serves as the Executive Director of Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives and Inclusion at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise include HSI/Minority Serving Institutions, diversity, equity & inclusion, Greek-letter organizations, civic engagement, Title V grants, and National Science Foundation grants. His professional focus is centered around culturally responsive pedagogy and curriculum.

Del Real is the assistant vice president of membership for The Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institution Educators. He is also the co-founder of the Colorado HSI Consortium and is the current president of the Colorado Coalition for the Educational Advancement of Latinxs. He has presented at a panel at the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) conference and facilitated the 2021 Sigma Lambda Betas International Fraternity Inc.’s Virtual Leadership Institute.

Before joining MSU Denver, Del Real was an adjunct faculty member in Ethnic Studies at Colorado State University.

Del Real earned his Doctorate in Education with a focus on higher education and social justice from Iowa State University, Master of Arts in higher education with a focus on diversity in organizations and Bachelor of Arts in French, Psychology, and Spanish from the University of Denver.

Alfredo Sanchez

Alfredo Sanchez, M.S., is an associate professor in the Journalism and Media Production Department at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Arturo Jimenez

Graham Stefan Ignizio

Adriann Wycoff

Adriann Wycoff, Ph.D., is a professor of Chicana/o Studies and holds a courtesy appointment as an associate professor of Women’s Studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Jose Quintana

Jose Quintana, M.A., is a senior lecturer in the Department of Chicana/Chicano Studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He teaches Introduction to Chicano Studies as well as Survey of Chicana/o Literature. Quintana’s areas of research encompass all things cultural based, especially folklore that has been deconstructed and reinterpreted. He believes in using cultural elements such as language, art, music and food to help students connect with the personal aspects of his classes.

Robert Preuhs

Robert Preuhs, Ph.D, is a professor and chair of the Political Science Department at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He currently teaches democracy: U.S. and Third World, conducting political analysis and applied political research lab.

Preuhs has been teaching political science at the college level for nearly 20 years. He held positions at the University of Denver and the University of Colorado as lecturer, affiliate faculty and instructor before coming to MSU Denver in 2007. Preuhs was also the associate director of the Social Science Data Laboratory at the University of Colorado from 2004 to 2006. He has received numerous awards, including the Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Work by the University of Colorado Graduate School in 2001 and Best Book on Latino Politics, awarded by the Latino Caucus of the American Political Science Association in 2014.

His main research areas focus on issues of representation and democracy through the lens of racial and ethnic politics, state and national politics, public policy and administration. Preuhs has published in academic journals including the Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, American Politics Quarterly and Social Science Quarterly. He also co-authored the book “Black-Latino Relations in U.S. National Politics: Beyond Conflict or Cooperation” in 2013, the first study of minority intergroup relations at the national level.

Preuhs received his doctorate in American politics, methodology and public policy and a master’s in political science from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2001 and 1999, respectively. He also earned a master’s in public administration from the University of New Mexico in 1996 and a bachelor’s in political science and international studies from Hamline University, cum laude, in 1992.

David Piacenti

David Piacenti teaches Prejudice & Discrimination, Contemporary Sociology, Art & Craft of Sociology Writing, and Sociological Theory: Past and Present.

He has taught at Metropolitan State University of Denver since 2010.

Piacenti has published “Yucatec-Mayan Immigration to the Mission and Edison Neighborhoods: A Comparison of Social Conditions and Immigrant Satisfaction” in the Journal of Méxican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, “The Tangle of Anthropological Tourism: How the Consumption of Fantasy and Academia Share Common Spaces” in Applied Anthropologist and “For Love of Family and Family Values: How Immigrant Motivations Can Inform Immigration Policy” in the Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy.

Marina Pereira

Professor Marina Pereira has taught graduate courses in the Graduate Social Work program as MSU Denver. She has taught at Metropolitan State University of Denver since 1999.

Professor Pereira is well versed in topics of mental health and families. She has special interest in issues of acculturation, diversity and first-generation Latino students. She was an advisor for the Student Association of Social Workers (SASW), a student organization that helps students develop and increase their sense of civic responsibility and community engagement by service learning activities.

Before teaching at MSU Denver, Pereira worked in the areas of medical social work and mental health, where she specialized in treating and advocating for children and families with a history of domestic violence, sexual and physical abuse.

Adriana Nieto

Adriana Nieto, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Chicana/o Studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

;