Dr. Estrella Torrez joins East Lansing Board of Education

October 31, 2023

CLS Faculty member Estrella Torrez was selected for an open seat on the East Lansing Board of Education recently.

Six candidates were interviewed for the seat vacated by Monica Fink and the remaining boardmembers unanimously selected Dr. Torrez. 

“My intent has always been and continues to be to create spaces where students and parents and teachers and community members across the demographics feel supported and heard,” she told the board. “I take a very intersectional approach to my work. I look at the multiple identities that the families and students hold. They aren’t flat, right? I’m not looking at someone just from a racial or ethnic perspective. We’re looking at abilities, we’re looking at sexual orientation, we’re looking at gender, we’re looking at language, we’re looking at socioeconomic status, and on and on.”

Dr. Torrez is an Associate Professor in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University. Her research centers on language politics and the importance of community-based knowledge, particularly among rural Latino families and urban Indigenous youth. Dr. Torrez’s scholarly interests include the intersection of critical pedagogy, civic engagement, multicultural education, Indigenous education and sociocultural literacy.