Draft:Laura Rendón

Laura I. Rendón is an American academic. She is a professor emerita from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Early life and education
Rendón graduated from Laredo Junior College in 1966, after which she received an Associate of Arts from San Antonio College (1968), a Bachelor of Arts in English and Journalism from the University of Houston (1970), Master of Arts in Guidance Counseling and Psychology from Texas A&M University (1975), and Doctor of Philosophy in Higher Education Administration from the University of Michigan (1980).

Career
Rendón started her career in 1975 as the director of the First-Year Experience Program for Low-Income Chicano Students at Laredo Community College, where she remained until 1979.

After receiving her Ph.D. in 1980, Rendón became the director of the Math Intervention Project, a position she held until 1984, at which point she became a research associate with the National Institute of Education.

In 1986, Rendón joined the University of South Carolina, Columbia as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Ford Foundation Southwest Transfer Education Research Project.

In 1988, Rendón became an associate professor with the Department of Adult and Community College Education at North Carolina State University. She also served as associate editor of the Community College Review.

In 1991, Rendón joined Arizona State University as a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. She also became a senior research associate at the National Center for Postsecondary Teaching, Learning and Assessment, a position she held until 1996. In 1992, she also took on the role of Director of Assessment at the Ford Foundation Urban Partnership Program. She maintained her roles as professor and director of assessment until 1999.

From 1999 to 2005, Rendón worked at California State University, Long Beach (CSU), where she served as the Veffie Milstead Jones Endowed Chair of the College of Education. She also held joint professorships with the Department of Educational Psychology, Administration and Counseling and Department of Teacher Education. In her final year at CSU, she also served as a professor in the Joint Doctoral Program on Educational Leadership with University of California, Irvine.

In 2005, Rendón became a professor at Iowa State University, where she chaired the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.

In 2010, Rendón joined the University of Texas at San Antonio as a visiting scholar in the College of Education and Human Development. Later that year, she joined the university as a Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, as well as co-director of the Center for Research and Policy in Education. She held both positions until 2016, at which point she received the honor of Professor Emerita.

For the 2019-2020 school year, Rendón was the campus advisor for the John N Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education.