Research Interests: Student Leadership; Student-Initiated Work, Students of Color in Higher Education, Retention Services, Identity Affirmation
Graduation Year: 2025
Kristal Roman (she/her/ella) was born and raised on the Central Coast of California. As a means of nurturing her love for learning, she decided to pursue higher education at UC Berkeley. Having never gotten the chance to experience an Ethnic Studies program in her K-12 education and wanting to further delve into her knowledge on politics, Kristal is currently pursuing a double major in Ethnic Studies and Political Science. And, through their work in retention services for students of color as well as their own experiences of empowerment through their schooling, she has added a minor in the field of education and has refocused her educational goals on attaining a PhD in the field of Ethnic Studies. These experiences have driven Kristal’s research interests, in that her research will focus on the roles that communities of color play in the retention of their own first generation students. More specifically, she plans on analyzing the emergence and content of student-to-student themtor relationships and the need for/individualized support offered by ethnic-specific student organizations as crucial elements within the retention of students of color in institutions of higher education.
