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Adrian H. Huerta is an Associate Professor (tenured) in the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the Rossier School of Education and the Department of Population & Public Health Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine (by courtesy), both at the University of Southern California. Dr. Huerta is a leading expert on the social and academic experiences of active and former/inactive gang-involved people across the educational pipeline. Through sociocultural perspectives and qualitative methods, he examines individual and structural factors that impact college access and success, boys and men of color, student parents, and gang-involved populations. Dr. Huerta has secured more than $2.8 million in local, state, federal, and philanthropic dollars for research, evaluation, fellowships, and contractual projects tied to his research agenda. Some funders include the U.S. Department of Education, the ECMC Foundation, the W. T. Grant Foundation, the College Futures Foundation, the California Community Foundation, and others. His more than 28 peer-reviewed research papers appear in leading education journals, including��The Review of Higher Education,��Journal of Diversity in Higher Education,��Journal of College Student Development, Community College Review, The Urban Review,��Urban Education, and many other outlets. He is a past co-winner of the American Sociological Association Julia Anna Cooper Early Career Award from the Sociology of Education section, a recipient of the Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Academy of Education and Spencer Foundation, and an Early Career Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). He earned his PhD and M.A. in education from UCLA, an M.A. in educational policy & leadership from The Ohio State University, and a B.S. in human services counseling from UNLV, and he attended both the College of Southern Nevada and Santa Barbara City College as a part-time student. ��

American Sociological Association (ASA) Sociology of Education - Anna Julia Copper Early Career Award, 2024 (co-winner)
������̳ School of Education, Excellence in Research Award, 2023
Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Early Career Award, 2022
National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, 2022-2024
ACPA Men and Masculinities Outstanding Research Award, 2022
Health Equity Fellow in Training (HEFT), Health Affairs, 2021-2022
Visiting Scholar, Harvard University, Graduate School of Education (Spring 2020 - COVID-19)
Emerging Poverty Scholar, Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Poverty-Scholar-in-Residence, West Coast Poverty Center, University of Washington;��
Diversity Scholar, National Center for Institutional Diversity, University of Michigan;��
HEOC Faculty Award, UCLAA;��
Minority Dissertation Fellow,��American Educational Research Association (AERA)��

EDUC 661:��Equity in College and Career Access (Fall 2019)
EDUC 651: Introduction to Qualitative Methods (Summer 2020; Fall 2020; Summer 2022)
EDUC 658: School-to-Prison Nexus (Fall 2021)��

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• Huerta, A. H.,��&��Salazar, M. E.��(in press). Examining how continuation schools engage in��criminalizing practices against Latino boys and limiting future opportunities.��Educational Administration Quarterly.
• Lopez, E. F.,��Huerta, A. H.,��Torres, G. M., Jaramillo Castillo, A., &��Salazar, M. E.��(in press). Mentorship and��outreach: Exploring students’ feedback to improve men of color retention programs.��Innovative Higher Education.����
• Huerta, A. H., Muñoz, M., De La Torre-Iniguez, S., &��Ibarra-Virgen, J.��(2024). Using evidence-based��design to support gang-impacted students in an urban community college: Lessons from the Phoenix Scholars Program.��New Directions for Higher Education,��2024(208), 25-32. https://doi.org/10.1002/he.20518. (Practitioner journal).
• Cesar-Davis, N. M.,��Huerta, A. H., Graves, D. L., Rios-Aguilar, C. & Deil-Amen, R. (2024). Processing the��poor: A case study of the financial aid ecosystem for community college students. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 48(2),��126-130.��
• Huerta, A. H.��(2024). Linking education and criminology research to understand the schooling experiences��of gang youth and adults. In J. Leverso, D. Pyrooz, & J. Densley. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Gangs and Society (pp. 573-593). Oxford University Press.
• Huerta, A. H. (2022). Exploring undergraduate students’ emotional vulnerability in men of color programs.��Journal of College Student Development.��
• Huerta, A. H., Rios-Aguilar, C., &��Ramirez, D.��(2022).��A case study of how racial and ethnic minoritized community college student parents make decisions about college, careers, and campus resources.��Community College Review.
• Howard, T. C.,��Woodward, B., Navarro, O.,��Huerta, A. H.,��Haro, B., & Watson, K.��(2019). (2019). Renaming the narrative, reclaiming their humanity: Black and Latino males descriptions of success. Teachers College Record.��121(5), 1-32
• Garcia, G., Huerta, A. H., Ramirez, J. J., & Patron, O. E. (2017). Contexts that matter to the leadership development of Latino male college students: A mixed-methods perspective. Journal of College Student Development, 58(1), 1-18.��
• Santos, J. L., Roth, K., & Huerta, A. H., & Ritter, Z. (2015). Technology and improving learning outcomes: A discussion of policy, costs and access. In R. T. Teranishi, L. Bordoloi Pazich, M. Knobel, & W. R. Allen (Eds.), Mitigating Inequality: Higher Education Research, Policy, and Practice in an Era of Massification and Stratification. U.K.: Emerald Group Publishing.
• Huerta, A. H. (2015). “I didn’t want my life to be like that”: Gangs, college, or the military for Latino male high school students. Journal of Latino/Latin American Studies, 7(2), 156-167.
• Huerta, A. H. (2015). The role of counselors in facilitating college opportunities for marginalized student populations. In J. D. Mathis, R. M. Rall & T. M. Laudino (Eds.), Fundamentals of college admission counseling: A textbook for graduate students and practicing counselors (pp. 276-289). Arlington, VA: NACAC.
• Sanchez, S. M., Huerta, A. H., & Venegas, K. M. (2012). Latino males and college preparation programs: Examples of increased access. Metropolitan Universities, 22(3), 27-45.
• Venegas, K. M., & Huerta, A. H. (2010). Urban ethnography: Approaches, perspectives and challenges. In M. Savin-Baden & C. H. Major (Eds.), New approaches to qualitative research: Wisdom and uncertainty (pp. 154-161). New York: Taylor Francis.

Associate Professor of Education (tenured), Rossier School of Education, 4/2025 - Present
Assistant Professor of Education (tenure-track), Rossier School of Education, 8/2019 - 4/2025
Assistant Professor of Population & Public Health Sciences (courtesy), Keck School of Medicine, 7/2024 - Present
Provost��Postdoctoral Scholar, Pullias Center for Higher Education, Rossier School of Education, USC, 8/2017 - 8/2019
Research Affiliate, University of Texas, Austin, Project��MALES, 8/2016 – present
Postdoctoral Research Scholar, UCLA Higher Education Research Institute (HERI), 7/2016 – 7/2018��
Research Assistant, UCLA, 10/2011 – 6/2016
Assistant Director, USC, Office of the Provost, McNair Scholars Program, 3/2011 – 8/2011
Program Coordinator, USC, McNair Scholars Program, 3/2010 – 3/2011
Academic Advisor, USC, Rossier School of Education, Master of Arts in Teaching, 6/2009 – 3/2010

Funder: W. T. Grant Foundation.��
Amount: 599,997
co-PI
Duration: 2025-2028

Funder: California Community Foundation.��
Amount: 50,000
PI
Duration: 2024-2026

Funder: ECMC Foundation
Amount: 159,203
PI
Duration: 2022-2023

Funder: U.S. Department of Education
Amount: 990,000
co-PI.��
Duration: 2021-2024
Title:��LBCC Phoenix Scholars: Supporting gang-involved youth and young adults into postsecondary education
��
Funder: CSU Student Success Network
PI
Amount: 38,500
Duration: 2020-2021
��
Funder: ECMC Foundation
PI
Amount: 9,350
Duration: 2020

Funder: Institute for Research on Poverty
PI
Amount: 20,000
Duration: 2019-2021

Funder: ECMC Foundation
Amount: 300,000
Duration: 2018-2021

Funder:��The Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions
Amount: ~45,000 (25K from community college partner)��
Duration: 2018-2020