Faculty Directory

Raquel Muñiz

Associate Professor

Associate Professor, School of Law

Department

ELHE Educational Leadership & Higher Education

Select Publications

Muñiz, R., Lewis, M. M., Okello, W., Achampong, G., Mata, A., & Meyers, S. (2025). A critical knowledge praxis framework for policymakers and practitioners. Educational Researcher. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X251333699

Muñiz, R., & Natow, R. (2025). Diminished administrative power post-Loper: Implications for educational research and policy. Educational Researcher. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X251329362

Muñiz, R. (2024). The need for educational research engagement with courts, public policy, and practice in a post-Dobbs era. Educational Researcher, 53(1), 59-65. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X231209969

Muñiz, R. (2024). Exploring litigation of anti-CRT state action: Considering the issues, challenges, and risks. Syracuse Law Review, 74, 1071-1100. https://lawreview.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Muniz.pdf

Muñiz, R., Lewis, M. M., Tumer, T., & Kane, E. (2023). The story of DACA as told by “friends of the court”: The role of racialization, citizenship, and interest convergence in policy discourse. American Journal of Education 129(3), 297-324. https://doi.org/10.1086/724305

Muñiz, R., Woolsey, M., Keffer, S., & Barragán, S. (2023). A systematic review of critical systems thinking in the education field: Gaps and opportunities for equitable education system change. International Journal of Educational Reform, 32(3), 251-268. https://doi.org/10.1177/10567879231157372

Muñiz, R. (2023). A theory of racialized judicial decision-making. Michigan Journal of Race & Law, 28(2), 101-175. https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjrl/vol28/iss2/4/

Muñiz, R., Lewis, M. M., Cavanagh, G., & Woolsey, M. (2022). The social context of the law: A critical analysis of reliance interests in the Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California. Southern California Law Review, 95(4), 857-952. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4380738

Muñiz, R. (2021). Education law and policy in the time of COVID-19: Using a legal framework to expose educational inequity. AERA Open, 7(1), 1-18. https://doi.org:10.1177/23328584211054107

Muñiz, R. (2020). Muddy sensemaking: Making sense of socio-emotional skills amidst a vague policy context. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 28(114), 1-38. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.28.5235

Select Grants

W.T. Grant Foundation Scholars Program Class of 2029. ($350,000). Strategies and conditions facilitating and hindering education law attorneys’ use of research evidence, PI.

The Spencer Foundation ($49,958). What’s the worth of a legal education today? Using normative case studies to examine Latinx students’ articulations of the value proposition of law schools across differently-institutions, Co-PI (w/Co-PI Dr. Andrés Castro Samayoa), 2019 – 2021.

AccessLex Institute & American Institutes for Research (AIR) ($49,978). What’s it all for? Exploring how Latinx students and university officials at differently-ranked law schools articulate legal education’s value through normative case studies, Co-PI (w/Co-PI Dr. Andrés Castro Samayoa), 2019 – 2020.

Select Professional Activities

  • 2024 – 2025,𳦰ٲ-𳦳,AERA, Division L, Educational Policy & Politics (elected)
  • 2021 – Present, Education Law Association, Board Member (elected)
  • 2020-2021 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Chair, Law and Education SIG (elected)

Select Appointments & Award

  • 2025,Recipient, AERA Early Career Award
  • 2025 Recipient, AERA Outstanding Article Award in Systems Thinking in Education
  • 2024Recipient, Education Law Association Steven S. Goldberg Award in recognition of excellent scholarship in education law
  • 2024 Scholar, William T. Grant Foundation Scholars Program Class of 2029
  • 2023 Reviewer, William T. Grant Foundation Early-Career Reviewer Program 
  • 2023 Fellow, Research-to-Policy Collaboration Diverse Policy Voices Fellowship 
  • 2022 Semi-Finalist, William T. Grant Foundation Scholars Program
  • 2021 Fellow, Law and Governance Higher Education Mentoring Roundtables 
  • 2021 Cohort Member, Santa Fe Complex Systems Summer School (CSSS)

Licenses

Licensed Attorney | Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 2019 - Present