Alejandra Albarran
Ph.D. Student
Department of Education
Email: aalbarra@uci.edu
Biography
Alejandra Albarran is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Education at the University of California, Irvine with a focus on Learning, Cognition and Development. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree at California Lutheran University in Psychology and her Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology, Early Childhood Education, at California State University, Northridge.
For the past seven years, Alejandra has been working as an Early Interventionist, with children with varying developmental delays, including autism, cerebral palsy, speech impediments, and mental retardation. Her experience with these children and their families has inspired her to research the early intervention system, by looking into the Latino parent’s perspective and reaction to developing an Individualized Family Service Plan, as part of her Master’s studies. She intends to continue to study the Latino parent’s perspective of early intervention but take it a step further. She hopes to research the process of transitioning from in-home early intervention to in-school intervention at the age of three.
Upon completing her Ph.D., Alejandra plans on becoming a professor of Education while continuing research on the Latino perspective of the education system. She aspires to assist Latino parents who are often overlooked, by helping their voices to be heard. She wants to minimize the gaps that exist between what is being done and what can be done to make the education system, as a whole, more suitable for all who enter it.
Alejandra’s love of education has led her around the world to learn about other cultures; specifically, she has traveled to Peru, China, Morocco, Italy and Zambia (as part of Habitat for Humanity). Her other interests include going to the movies, photography, and spending time with her friends and family.