Vanessa Delgado, PhD

IDEA Postdoctoral Fellow, Stony Brook University
Ph.D. Sociology, University of California, Irvine
M.A., Sociology, University of California, Irvine
B.A., Sociology, Washington State University

Dr. Vanessa Delgado is a sociologist and an incoming assistant professor at Washington State University starting in the fall of 2023. She is an IDEA Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Sociology at Stony Brook University. Her research explores the incorporation pathways and educational experiences of Latino/a families. She employs qualitative methods to examine how Latino/a families navigate punitive immigration laws and policies and a restrictive socio-political climate. Articles from her research are published in Law & Policy, Journal of Latinos and Education, Sociology Compass, Socius, Sociological Forum, Social Sciences, and Journal of Marriage and Family.  

Dr. Delgado is working on a book project, Integration Labor: How Children of Immigrants Negotiate Laws, Belonging, and U.S. Society, which is a longitudinal interview-based project that follows the lives of 60 college-educated Latinx children of immigrants in Southern California. In the book, she explores how these young adults serve as “brokers” and facilitate access to resources for their immigrant parents as they come of age. She captures how brokering changes once young adults become older adults who go to college, the struggles of balancing work and school responsibilities with their parents’ request for help, and how these young adults help their parents navigate systems of oppression including racial discrimination, and xenophobia.  

Dr. Delgado attended Washington State University and was the first in her family to attend college. She first learned about graduate school as a Ronald E. McNair Scholar. As a McNair Scholar, she learned about how to conduct research and presented at various national conferences. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology in 2015 and pursued a Ph.D. at the University of California, Irvine. She earned both an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Irvine in 2022.