Elisha Smith Arrillaga

Elisha Smith Arrillaga
Elisha Smith Arrillaga
Managing Director,
The Charles A. Dana Center, UT-Austin

Elisha Smith Arrillaga, PhD, is managing director at the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin. She previously served as the executive director of The Education Trust—West, a national research and advocacy nonprofit organization committed to educational justice for students of color, students from low-income communities, and English learners. A lifelong math lover, a researcher by training, and an advocate by blood, Smith Arrillaga is fiercely committed to increasing opportunities in STEM for students of color. She has served on numerous committees, boards, and task-forces—among them University of California’s Provost Advisory Council on Educational Equity, CSU’s Steering Committee on Academic Preparation and Quantitative Reasoning, University of California’s Test Feasibility Study Steering Committee, and the Launch Years Consensus Panel.

updated 2019

Publications by Elisha Smith Arrillaga
Opportunities for Research, Policy, and Practice
Due to fragmented and misaligned segments of public education, many students lack access to educational opportunities that will ensure their success in college and career. This problem is one that may only be solved through better alignment and…