Associate Director, Student Government
University Of Nevada, Reno
Scholarship & Presentations
Scholarhip &
Presentations
My scholarly work sits at the intersection of practice and inquiry, and each presentation has grown directly from a live professional question, not an abstract academic exercise. The 4R Framework for rural student success emerged from my own biography as a student from Jackpot, Nevada, tested before a professional audience at the 2026 Northern Nevada Diversity Summit. The Positive Psychology presentation at the 2025 NACA National Conference began as a question I could not resolve in my advising work: why do strengths-based frameworks fail to reach the students who most need them? A conference proposal in development for the ACPA Convention 2027 extends this work into collaborative scholarship on faculty-practitioner mentorship and professional identity formation.
Conference Presentations
NACA National Conference · November 2025
ACPA Pending Submission · March 2027
Aguilar-Herrera, L. (2026, April). Close to Home, Ready to Work: Supporting Rural Nevada Students Toward Workforce Success. Education session presented at the Northern Nevada Diversity Summit, Reno, NV.
This presentation advanced the 4R framework: Recognize, Reach, Resource, Retain, for understanding institutional responsibility toward rural students. It drew on data from EDAWN, NCHEMS, WICHE, NCES, and the U.S. Census Bureau, and on the presenter’s own biography as a student from rural northern Nevada.
Northern Nevada Diversity Summit · April 2026
Aguilar-Herrera, L. (2025, November). Thriving, Not Surviving: Applying Positive Psychology to Student Development. Education session presented at the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) Conference, Riverside, CA.
This presentation applied core positive psychology constructs agency, resiliency, strengths-based development, and flourishing to the practical work of student affairs programming and leadership development.
Aguilar-Herrera, L. (2027). The Scholar-Practitioner Relationship: How Faculty-Practitioner Mentorship Transforms Professional Identity in an Era of Love, Justice, Equity, and Inclusion (LJEI). Conference proposal in development for the ACPA College Student Educators International Convention 2027, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
MS Psychology, Positive Psychology concentration · Arizona State University, May 2025, With Distinction, GPA 4.00
MEd in Higher and Postsecondary Education · Arizona State University, summer 2026
