Dr. Erica Davila
Associate Professor of Education
Coordinator of Urban Education
davilae@arcadia.edu
Erica Davila, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Education and Coordinator of Urban Education at Arcadia University, where she teaches urban education, cultural foundations of education and process of learning in the classroom. Her dissertation research explored the lives of Puerto Ricans in the Chicago Public Schools. Her research aims to highlight lived experiences as they unfold within the school context and how focusing on students' lives can impact pedagogy and curriculum development.
Dr. Davila continues to work on research in Chicago on the needs of Latino children within the Chicago Public Schools. She published an article in The Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health which touched on the critical need for mental health programs within elementary and high school settings. Most recently her entry on Urban Education for The Praeger Handbook of Latino Education in the U.S. and her review on the book We Took the Streets; Fighting for Latino Rights with the Young Lords for the Latino Studies journal were both accepted for publication. She has presented her research at various national conferences including the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association and the Puerto Rican Studies Association Conference.
Dr. Davila has a doctorate and master's degree in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and Sociology from Northeastern Illinois University. She taught elementary school and GED classes in Chicago and Urbana Illinois prior to teaching in higher education.
