Roman Liera
- Assistant Professor Educational Leadership
- lierar@montclair.edu
- Location
- Montclair Campus > University Hall > Room 2123
Biography
Román Liera is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Montclair State University. He was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, where he attended Los Angeles Pierce College before transferring to San Diego State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a minor in counseling and social change. He then moved to New York City to attend Teachers College, Columbia University, where he received a Master of Arts in Higher and Postsecondary Education before moving back to Los Angeles, where he earned a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California.
Resume/CV
Research
Dr. Liera is a national leader in organizations, racialization, equity, and change in higher education. His research program has advanced knowledge on the intersection of racialized organizational change in various areas, including Ph.D. qualifying examinations, the academic job market, presidential and faculty hiring, postdoctoral training, reappointment, tenure, and promotion, and racial equity training. His research appears in the Journal of Higher Education, American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, Review of Higher Education, Educational Researcher, AERA Open, among others.
His published research can be found:
Roman Liera - Google Scholar
Publications
Montclair State University Presidential Excellence Award in Excellence in Research, Scholarship, or Creative Activity: Tenure-Track Faculty. Honorable Mention, 2026.
Montclair State University Presidential Excellence Award in Excellence in Teaching: Early Career Full-Time Faculty, 2025.
AERA Educational Change SIG Emerging Scholar Award, 2025.
Diverse Issues Emerging Scholar Award, 2025.
The National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2024.
Media Expertise
Dr. Liera anchored his scholarship on a theoretical understanding of university and college campuses as racialized organizations with cultures and structures constraining administrators and faculty efforts to advance racial equity. His current research projects focus on understanding how racism operates in doctoral student socialization, the academic job market, faculty hiring, reappointment, tenure and promotion, and presidential hiring. His research appears in the Journal of Higher Education, American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, Review of Higher Education among others.
Racial Equity in Higher Education
Organizational Learning and Organizational Change
The Professoriate
Qualitative Research
Related Links
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