Diana Rodríguez Gómez is an Assistant Professor in the Educational Policy Studies Department at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her work examines state-building and education policy-making processes in areas affected by violence, particularly in Latin America. In her current research project, she draws from qualitative and ethnographic methods to explore the concepts of state formation and fragility in a school located near the Colombia-Venezuela border. Rodríguez-Gómez oversees EPS’s Study Abroad program in Colombia, where students learn how human rights are exercised, negotiated, and contested in Colombia’s educational system.
Education
- Ed D International Educational Development, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2016
- MA International Education & Development, School of Education, University of Sussex, 2009
- Graduate Diploma Cultural Studies, School of Social Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, 2007
- BA History, School of Social Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, 2004
Select Publications
- Rodríguez-Gómez, D. (2025). Beyond a Policy Category: Reimagining “Refugee” in Educational Research. Comparative Education Review https://doi.org/10.1086/734819.
- Russell, S. G., Rodríguez-Gómez, D., & Mantilla, P. (2025). Beyond the Binary: The Migratory Ecosystem and Expanded Approaches to Education for Urban Refugees in Ecuador. International Migration Review https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183251314850.
- Rodríguez-Gómez, D., & Moreno, M. (2023). The Politics and Pitfalls of Academic Enthusiasm in Peacebuilding: Examining Researchers’ Role in a Rural Education Development Project in Colombia. Globalisation, Societies and Education https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2023.2191935 .
- Rodríguez-Gómez, D. (2022). Disputed futures: rural entrepreneurship and migration in postsecondary trajectories on the Ecuador–Colombia Border. Ethnography and Education DOI: 10.1080/17457823.2022.2049333.
- Rodríguez-Gómez, D., & Russell, S. G. (2021). Human Rights Violations through Structural Violence: A Case Study of Human Rights Education in New York City. American Educational Research Journal (AERJ) DOI: https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312211057307.
- Rodríguez-Gómez, D., & Bermeo, M. (2020). Assembling the Educational Nexus to the War on Drugs: A Systematic Review. Journal of Education in Emergencies, 6(1), 18-56.
- Rodríguez-Gómez, D. (2019). Bureaucratic Barriers to Universal Access to Education in Ecuador. Journal of Education in Emergencies, 5(1), 62-93.
Select Presentations
- (2024). Insurgent Governance: Authority, Control, and Power over School. BAICE, Brighton, UK.
- (2024). What Rests Behind Events: A critical analysis of “Attacks on Education”. Comparative and International Education Society, Miami.
- (2024). Escolarización en economías (i)legales: Un estudio de las experiencias educativas en los cultivos de coca. LASA, Bogotá, Colombia.
- (2024). Harm Reduction Design Studio. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
- (2023). Statecraft, educational policy and armed conflict in Arauca, Colombia. Comparative and International Education Society, Washington, D.C.
- (2023). A Study of Educational Experiences in Southern Colombia Coca Fields. Network for International and Comparative Education (NICE).
- (2022). Schooling in (Il)legal Economies: A Comparative Study of Educational Experiences in the Midst of the Drug War. Childhood and Youth Studies: Approaches and Methods, Prof. Collete Daiute, Graduate Center, CUNY.
- Rodríguez-Gómez, D. (2022). U.S Empire, Plan Colombia and the Right to Education. Lecture Comparative and International Education Society, Minneapolis.
- (2022). Beyond Fragile States: Statecraft, educational policy and armed conflict in Arauca, Colombia. Educating in Challenging Environments, IOE-UCL & Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
- (2021). Disrupting the Use of 'Refugee' in Comparative and International Education: A Case Study of Non-Governmental Educational Organizations in Quito, Ecuador. Youth & Migration Discussion Series, Indiana University, USA.
Select Awards and Honors
- Exceptional Service Support Program Award, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2024
- Vilas Faculty Early-Career Investigator Award, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2024
- Vilas Life Cycle Professorship Fellowship, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2023
- Fall Research Competition, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2022
- Proposal Writing for Early-career Scholar Success (PROWESS), School of Education, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2022
- NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow, Schooling in (Il)legal Economies: A Comparative Study of Educational Experiences in the Midst of the Drug War, (2021–2022)
- Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs (CLASP), Junior Faculty Teaching Award, Center for Latin American Studies, Ohio State University, 2020
- Concha Delgado Gaitán Early Career Presidential Fellowship, Council on Anthropology and Education, American Anthropological Association, 2019
- Fellow, Salzburg Global Seminar, Salzburg, Austria, 2019
- Honored Instructor, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2019