Melissa Garza, PhD

Director of Research

Dr. Melissa Garza joined the Charles Butt Foundation in January 2023, bringing a career that spans research, evaluation, and teaching across P-20 classrooms.

Raised in Roma, Texas, a South Texas border community, and the first in her family to attend college, Dr. Garza grounds her work in a deep commitment to access, opportunity, and belonging. She has led and supported initiatives that strengthen systems, and elevate academic and career pathways for culturally and linguistically diverse learners, particularly in the Rio Grande Valley.

Dr. Garza holds a Ph.D. in Developmental Education and a Master of Interdisciplinary Studies from Texas State University, as well as an Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Her expertise lies in mixed-methods research, with scholarly interests focused on education in rural U.S.–Mexico border contexts, teacher and faculty development, and literacy.

We must reject any notion of the human subject which seals itself off from its own history, its own link to the community of multiple selves which surrounds it, its narratives of freedom…

Paulo Freire