Pilar Mendoza is an associate professor in the educational leadership and policy analysis department at the University of Missouri. Her work is centered on the globalization and development of higher education in Latin America. 

She is the founder and director of the International Research Center for the Development of Education (CIIDE is its acronym in Spanish), a partnership between the MU College of Education and UNIMINUTO in Bogotá, a private higher education system in Colombia serving marginalized students. 

Mendoza has published book chapters, monographs, and numerous journal articles; she edited the book On Becoming a Scholar: Socialization and Development in Doctoral Education. She serves in the editorial boards of The Journal of Higher Education and the Review of Higher Education, and others. She is the 2019-2022 co-chair of the Comparative and International Education Society, a higher education interest group.

Mendoza was a 2019-2020 Fulbright Scholar to Colombia, where she researched retention of African Colombian and African American college students. Her international work attracted around $1 million in external grants from USAID, the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright program and the U.S. State Department.

A native of Bogotá, Colombia, she earned her bachelor’s of science in physics from the University of the Andes. She has a master’s of science in physics and an Ed.D. in higher education policy and leadership from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Courtesy of Pilar Mendoza

Pronouns: She/her

Expertise: The impact of neoliberalism, globalization, neocolonialism and academic capitalism on higher education; equity, diversity and inclusion in higher education; college student retention and success; college affordability; industry-academia collaborations; international and comparative higher education; Latin America

Location: Columbia, Mo.

Email: mendozamp@missouri.edu

Twitter: @PilarMe65277173

Heard on Star Scholars Network: “The Impacts and Implications of COVID 19 on Global Higher Education”