School of Education

Dr. Cristina Santamaría Graff is an Assistant Professor of Special Education, Urban Teacher Education (Ph.D., University of Arizona, 2009) at IUPUI. She has expertise in bilingual/multicultural special education and applies her skills in working with Latinx immigrant families of children with dis/abilities in family-centered projects. Her scholarship focuses on ways community-engaged partnerships with families and other stakeholders can transform inequitable practices impacting youth with disabilities at the intersections of race, class, and other identity markers of difference.

Specifically, her work focuses on “Family as Faculty” (FAF) approaches in special education programs that position community stakeholders’ knowledge and knowledge-making as central to the process of transforming systems. 

Currently, Cristina is one of the editors for the journal, Multiple Voices for Ethnically Diverse Exceptional Leaners and an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE).

She is a recipient of several community engaged awards affiliated with her implementation of FAF approaches in her teaching and research including the American Educational Research Association (AERA) award for Exemplary Contributions to Practice-Engaged Research (2019), the Douglas Hiltunen Award for Community-Engaged Research (2019), and the Charles R. Bantz Chancellor’s Community Scholar Award (2018).

• University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (2009), Ph.D. Learning Disabilities with an emphasis in Bilingual/Multicultural Special Education
• University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (1999), M.A. Learning Disabilities with an emphasis in Bilingual/Multicultural Special Education
• University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA (1993), B.A. Spanish Literature Major, Education Minor
• Teacher Preparation Program (1994 - 1996), California State University at Long Beach (CSULB), Long Beach, CA, Bilingual Cross-Categorical Language and Academic Development (B-CLAD), Multiple Subjects Credential Program

• K307 Methods for Teaching Students with Special Needs
• K448 Families, Schools, & Society
• K465 Service Delivery Systems
• K548 Families, Schools, & Society
• K565 Collaboration, Service Delivery

• Bilingual Special Education
• Family-centered and driven approaches
• Community Engagement and Partnership
• MultiCrit approaches to identity

• Family as Faculty approaches to collaborating with families of children with dis/abilities
• Critical Pedagogy
• Critical Consciousness and Praxis
• Critical Race Theory
• MultiCrit
• Dis/Crit
• Immigration
• Critical Community Engagement
• Critical Service-Learning
• Critical Peace Education

• Santamaría Graff, C., Manlove, J., Stuckey, S., & Foley, M. (under review). Examining pre-service special education teachers’ biases and evolving understandings about families through a Family as Faculty approach. Preventing School Failure.
• Santamaría Graff, C., & Manlove, J. (under review). Beyond the color lines: A Duoethnography of multiraciality and unhooking from whiteness. Unhooking from Whiteness.
• Santamaría Graff, C., & Sherman, B. (under review). Working with families. Oxford Encyclopedia of Inclusive and Special Education, Oxford University Press
• Santamaría Graff, C. (in press). How do we arm ourselves with love? Examining “armed love” through educators’ critical conversations in an online platform. Contemporary Perspectives on Spirituality in Education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
• Santamaría Graff, C., & Boehner, J. (2019). Forming a mutually respectful university/parent-to-parent organization community partnership through a “Family as Faculty” project. Engage!: Urban University Community Journal, 1(1), 46 - 63. DOI: 10.18060/22816
• Santamaría Graff, C. (2019). The unbearable whiteness of being. In E. Hurd (Ed.). Reflexivity of Pain and Privilege. Exploring the reflexivity of pain and privilege (Section 1). Brill Publishers.
• Warren-Gordon, K., & Santamaría Graff, C. (2018, Nov/Dec). Critical Service Learning as a vehicle for change in higher education courses. Changes, 50(60), 20 – 23. DOI: 10.1080/00091383.2018.1540817
• Santamaría Graff, C. (2017). “Build That Wall!”: Manufacturing the enemy, yet again. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30(10), 999 – 1005.
• King Thorius, K. A., & Santamaría Graff, C. C. (2017). Beyond remediating: Repositioning and empowering students with dis/abilities in schools and classrooms through Peer Assisted Learning Strategies. Intervention in School and Clinic, 1 - 8
• Santamaría Graff, C., & Kozleski, E. B. (2014). Calcifying sorting and segregating: Brown at 60. Multiple Voices for Ethnically Diverse Exceptional Learners, 14(2), 52-67.
• Santamaría Graff, C. & Vazquez, S. L. (2014). Family resistance as a tool in urban school reform. In E. B. Kozleski & K. King Thorius (Eds.), Ability, equity, and culture: Sustaining inclusive urban education reform. New York: Teachers College Press.
• Santamaría Graff, C., McCain, T., & Gomez-Vilchis, V. (2013). Latina resilience in higher education: Contributing factors including seasonal farmworker experiences. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 12(4), 334 – 344. DOI 10.1177/1538192713494212
• Santamaría, L. J., Santamaría, C., & Fletcher, T. V. (2009). Pre-service teachers’ journeys toward cultural competence. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education: An International Journal, 3(1).

• Foley, M., & Santamaría Graff, C. (2018, July 20). Getting Started with Person-First Language. Essay submitted to Edutopia at: https://www.edutopia.org/article/getting-started-person-first-language
• Santamaría Graff, C. (2017, January 20). What Your Home Visit Communicates to Families. Essay submitted to Edutopia at: https://www.edutopia.org/article/home-visits-101-cristina-santamaria-graff
• Santamaría Graff, C. (2017, March 6). Trumpectomy: An Individual and Collective Reckoning. LunaLuna Magazine at http://www.lunalunamagazine.com/blog/trumpectomy-an-individual-and-collective-reckoning