Dr. Sarah Socorro Hurtado is an Assistant Professor in higher education in the Morgridge College of Eduation at the University of Denver. Her scholarly agenda is tangible in nature. She asks passionately, which means that she focuses her research on critical questions that need answers. She centers her research on examining the ways institutions maintain inequity that contribute to the perpetuation of rape culture and identifying strategies for transformative change. She identifies two main strands in her research related to eliminating sexual violence. First, she takes an organizational approach to investigate how institutions replicate rape culture through policies, procedures, structures, curriculum, etc. Second, she looks at responsibility including who has power within institutions and how it is leveraged to eliminate sexual violence. Currently, this second strand focuses on the role and responsibility of faculty members. 

Dr. Hurtado teaches courses on inclusive excellence, student development theory, and critical race theory. She has also taught a seminar on sexual violence on U.S. campuses. 

While pursuing her PhD in higher education at Indiana University Bloomington, she served as a Project Associate for the Center for Postsecondary Research. Specifically, she worked with the National Survey of Student Engagement Institute for Effective Educational Practice. In her role, she worked with institutions to better utilize their NSSE data to inform practice. She also co-authored several survey item sets focused on providing institutions actionable data related to students' and faculty members' experiences with discrimination, students' experiences with inclusive coursework and perceptions of institutional committment to inclusion, and faculty members use of inclusive teaching practices. She also developed resources related to inclusive quantitative assessment and data sharing practices including the important of sharing the stories of small populations. 

Prior to that, she worked as a Coordinator of Student Development at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for three years. She received her Masters from Indiana University Bloomington and her Bachelors from the University of Redlands. 

​ DU Email: 

sarah.hurtado@du.edu

Twitter: @SSHurtadoPhD

Areas of Expertise

Campus Sexual Violence

Title IX

Equity

Faculty

Partnerships