Dr. Saudi Garcia is a Research, Strategy & Operations Leader building and scaling organizations that solve big societal challenges. She uses her background as an Anthropologist and qualitative researcher to advance Educational Access, Economic Justice and Racial Equity in the United States and Dominican Republic. Dr. Garcia currently serves as the Program Director of Scholars for Social Justice, a progressive network of University workers advancing democracy and fighting for social change at Universities and their nearby local communities. She is a proud immigrant, a graduate of New York City Public schools, Brown University & New York University. Dr. Garcia is a long-term volunteer with In Cultured Company, and part of the LEDA and New American Leaders communities. As an active member of the U.S. Dominican progressive community she inspires other "Platano Progressives" to live their values, advance democracy and transform their communities.
In 2022, Dr. Garcia completed her PhD after writing a doctoral dissertation on the impacts of gold mining on Afro-Indigenous communities in the island of Ayiti. In May of 2024, she publicly resigned her Assistant Professorship in protest over her university’s response to student protest and the deterioration of academic freedom and labor conditions in all higher education institutions. In her current role at Scholars for Social Justice, Dr. Garcia is shaping the movement to transform higher education by crafting programs for public education, emergency response and public engagement, and funding opportunities such as cohort-based fellowships and team-based research grants. Her portfolio of programs is a direct response to the federal government's destruction of curtailing of research and its attacks on academic freedom and freedom of expression.
Dr. Garcia maintains a bird's eye view of how the U.S. higher education landscape is shifting and impacting students, families, institutions, college access organizations and employers. Via her consulting practice, she helps organizations align their values, strategies, programs and operations to better impact a fast-changing world. She is inspired by Black Feminist theory and organizing and shares its lessons to help as many individuals and organizations find the courage to transform themselves while solving society's most complex problems. See her "Consulting Services" page or email hello@saudigarcia.com to learn more.
Anthropologist & Research, Operations & Strategy Leader
