Regina Garza Mitchell

Dr. Regina Garza Mitchell is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Research, and Technology, specializing in qualitative research methods and higher education leadership. Her research interests include culturally relevant and critical qualitative methodologies, teaching qualitative research, and higher education leadership and governance, primarily in the community college context. Her work has been published in journals such as Qualitative Inquiry, Community College Review, Community College Journal of Research and Practice, Innovative Higher Education, and New Directions in Community Colleges. She has edited several books and is co-author of Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders: Context, Challenges, and Capabilities (The Futures Series on Community Colleges). Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education and Improving Undergraduate STEM Education programs. She earned the 2015 WMU College of Education and Human Development Tate Center Emerging Scholar Award and the 2019 Council for the Study of Community Colleges Barbara K. Townsend Emerging Scholar Award. She is a 2024 Mid-American Conference Academic Leadership Development Fellow. She is a past president of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges and serves on several editorial boards. She is also a founding member of the WMU Latinx Employee Association. Prior to joining WMU, Regina served in a variety of faculty, administrative, and leadership positions in university and community college settings.