Alondra Garza is an assistant professor teaching criminal justice courses in the College of Public Service at UHD. Her influence on the UHD community and important research regarding gendered victimization merits recognition in honor of Women’s History Month.
Women’s History Month gives dedicated time to connect with and honor inspiring individuals. As her work and research bring light to important aspects of our criminal justice system, Garza is just one of the inspiring women working at UHD.
Having grown up just a few minutes from the U.S.-Mexico border in Mission, Texas, Garza knew from a young age that her work would focus on gender victimization towards women and the Latin American community. Having known many Latinas and women who had experienced gender victimization, domestic violence, abuse and assault, Garza sets out to effect change.
Garza prides herself on being a first-generation college student. The network and mentorships she built led her to complete all three of her degrees at Sam Houston State University, including her Doctorate in criminal justice completed in 2022.
She has always appreciated the opportunity to obtain higher education and give back to her community, and this has been a driving force in her pursuit of education.
It was largely personal reasons that brought her to UHD. Garza was working in Florida at the University of Orlando after completing her PhD, but she and her husband, who grew up in Houston, knew they wanted to return to Texas.
As opposed to the University of Orlando, she was drawn to UHD as a Hispanic-serving institution with plenty of other Latina faculty members. She also loves the non-traditional student base that UHD serves with students who work, are parents, are caretakers or returning students.
Garza’s work at UHD is divided into three segments: teaching, service and research. She regularly teaches both undergraduate and graduate students, and her courses currently cover topics such as victimology and women and the criminal justice system.
Garza particularly loves working with graduate students, recently assisting a student whose thesis covered de-escalation training for law enforcement. She continues to push for a class regarding Latinos in the criminal justice system.
Serving on the Academic Affairs Council is just one way Garza helps serve the UHD community. After serving as a panelist for UHD’s Latinas Achieve, she gravitated towards being a faculty advisor for the group.
Much of Garza’s research and publications focus on victims of intimate partner violence. According to the World Health Organization, over one in three women have been a victim of intimate partner violence in some form.
“A lot of my work focuses on how can we identify and address how the criminal justice system responds to incidents of sexual assault, intimate partner violence and so, I’ve done a lot of work with victim agencies, police departments, answering a whole host a research questions related to this,” said Garza.
In her most recent publication, Garza said, “…my recent work was focusing on intimate partner homicide among Latinas. Looking at risk factors that are culturally specific, help-seeking barriers…I’ve done a few studies evaluating trauma-informed training for police departments and how they respond to victims of sexual assault.”
Outside of the office, Garza enjoys spending time with her husband, their two dogs, and their cat. She’s new to gardening this year, emphasizing her obsession with the idea of growing her own food. No novice to running, Garza also enjoys participating in marathons. Both she and her husband are avid readers, and she is currently making her way through “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah and Ina Garten’s Memoir “Be Ready When the Luck Happens.”
Garza referred to herself as a “transplant Houstonian,” and when asked what she loves about Houston, she said, “I love that it is…the most diverse city in the U.S. So that’s important to me. I also really love the food…we have so much to offer for foodies.” She also loves the never-ending list of things to do in Houston, from cultural events to sports games or the local arts.
For those looking into grad school or additional UHD programs, Dr. Garza recommends students to speak to a faculty member or a professor they have taken classes with about what higher education looks like and what kind of careers are available.
