Kevin Ferreira van Leer

Assistant Professor

Human Development and Family Sciences

Dr. Ferreira van Leer is accepting graduate student applicants for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Curriculum Vitae

Educational Background:

• Ph.D. in Applied Developmental & Educational Psychology, Lynch School of Education & Human Development, Boston College, 2018
• B.A. in Interdisciplinary Major with a concentration in Global Conflict Studies, Wagner College, 2013
• Bilingual (English & Spanish) International Baccalaureate Degree, United World College Costa Rica, 2009

Research (or Professional) Interests:

• Assessing the role of socialization agents & contexts in influencing the educational & caregiving experiences of Latine immigrant families
• Gaining an understanding of the impact of international & national policies on migrant families
• Exploring critical consciousness and the role of individual and collective resistance to oppression

Selected Publications:

• Ferreira van Leer, K., & Coley, R. L. (2023). Early childhood education decision-making among Latinx foreign-born in the United States: A culturally informed model of decision-making. Children and Youth Services Review, 151(August 2023), 107046. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107046
• Cook, K.D., Ferreira van Leer, K., & Lombardi, C. M. (2023). Exploring predictors and outcomes of racial/ethnic match between children and providers in Early Head Start. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 62(1), 275-286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2022.09.002
• Suzuki, S., Johnson, S. K., & Ferreira van Leer, K. (2023). Situating critical consciousness within the developmental system: Insights from the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory. In L.J. Rapa & E. B. Godfrey (Eds.), Critical Consciousness: Expanding Theory and Measurement (pp. 41-62). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009153751
• Cook, K.D., Ferreira van Leer, K., Gandhi, J., Ayala, C. & Kuh, L.P. (2022). Managing disruptions in early education and care: Lessons from COVID-19. Early Childhood Education Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-022-01430-2
• Ferreira van Leer, K.. McGillen, G., Ashby, K., Bhattacharyya, S., Simmons, C. (2021). When students listen: A co-constructed autoethnography graduate student activists eradicating racism in higher education. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 12(3), 1-23. https://www.gjcpp.org/en/article.php?issue=40&article=246
• Buckingham, S., Langhout, R. D., Rusch, D., Mehta, T., Chavez, N., Ferreira van Leer, K., Oberoi, A., Indart, M., Paloma, V., King, E., Olson, B. (2021). The roles of settings in supporting immigrants’ resistance to injustice and oppression: A policy position statement by the Society for Community Research and Action. Society for Community Research and Action, Division 27 of the American Psychological Association. American Journal of Community Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12515
• Ferreira van Leer, K., Crosby, D., & Mendez, J. (2021). Disruptions to child care and work arrangements for low-income Hispanic families are common, varied and costly [Research Brief]. Bethesda, MD: National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families.
• Chicco, J., Esparza, P., Lykes, M.B., Balcazar, F.E., & Ferreira, K. (2016). Statement on the incarceration of undocumented immigrant families: A policy statement by the Society for Community Research and Action: Division 27 of the American Psychological Association. American Journal of Community Psychology 57, 255-263.

Selected Presentations:

• Gonzalez, A., Ferreira van Leer, K., & Razo-Soto, M. (November, 2022). Do they see us? Using our voice to transform HIS “Servingness.” [Paper presentation]. Association for the Study of Higher Education’s 2022 Council for Ethnic Participant Pre-Conference, November 16, Las Vegas, Nevada.
• Ferreira van Leer, K., Moylan, A., Kivel, D. (2022, October). Continuing our praxis: Lessons learned over 2 years of a faculty learning community and institutional work on centering anti-racism in experiential learning. [Poster]. Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities, October 23-26, 2022, San Diego, California.
• Ferreira van Leer, K., Mendez, J., Porras Velazquez, M., Torres, Y. (2022, June). CCDF subsidy access for low-income Latinx families in North Carolina: Insight from community resource brokers [Poster]. National Research Conference on Early Childhood (NRCEC), June 27-29, 2022, Virtual.
• Ferreira van Leer, K., Smith, J., Crosby, D. (2021, April). Disruptions to child care and work arrangements for low-income households: An examination of racial/ethnic differences in disruptions [Paper presentation]. In. D. Crosby (Chair), Families’ work-childcare coordination in the context of low-wage work, precarious schedules and the COVID-19 pandemic. Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) 2021 Biennial Meeting, Virtual.