Overview
Raul Armenta is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology at Cornell University. He is a graduate fellow at the Center for the Study of Inequality, an affiliate of the Cornell Population Center, and a Graduate School Dean’s Scholar. His research focuses on the intersection of education and the criminal legal system, with particular attention to how people impacted by incarceration engage with critical pedagogy and how these experiences shape political formations.
Previously, Raul worked as a research analyst in Los Angeles, leading qualitative research in mixed-methods evaluations of reentry programs and helping to establish the Council for Lived Experience Advisory, which centers the voices of people who were formerly incarcerated in research decision-making. He was also a co-founder of the Underground Scholars Initiative at the University of California, Riverside, a student-centered organization supporting formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students in higher education.
Raul holds an M.A. in Sociology and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, a B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Riverside, and an A.A. from Cerritos College.