Daysi Diaz-Strong
Assistant Professor
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Contact
Building & Room:
ETMSW 4212
Address:
1040 W. Harrison Street, Chicago, IL 60607
Office Phone:
Email:
About
Daysi Diaz-Strong’s immigrant background has shaped her professional and research interests in education and immigration. For various years, she worked in the community college system, developing and implementing programs to improve the success of underrepresented students. Her research focuses on the experiences of undocumented immigrants from Latin America and how immigration policy shapes their educational and developmental trajectories.
Professional Interests
- Educational outcomes and experiences of undocumented immigrants
- The developmental trajectories of undocumented immigrants
- The life course implications of immigration policy on undocumented immigrants
Teaching Experience
- SocW 410 Human Behavior and the Social Environment
- SocW 411 Critical Social Work in a Multicultural Society
- SocW 578 Qualitative Methods in Social Work Research
- SocW 527 Undocumented Children, Families, and Communities
Selected Publications
Articles
Diaz-Strong, D. X. (2025). The contradiction of silence and disclosure: supporting undocumented students’ transition to college amidst legal violence. Race Ethnicity and Education, 1-21. https://doi-org.proxy.cc.uic.edu/10.1080/13613324.2025.2509077
Diaz-Strong, D. X., & Moreno, D. G. (2025). Undocumented students’ uneven access to financial aid resources: How existing resources reinforce deservingness. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 33. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.33.8804
Diaz-Strong, D.X. (2025). Nested contexts of support: How the local context shapes school agents’ support of undocumented students. Children and Youth Services Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2025.108130
Diaz-Strong, D. X., Padilla-Rodríguez, I., & Torres, S. (2024). Beyond infantilization and adultification: The binary representations of child migrants in the United States and how they harm young migrants. Children & Society, 00, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12919
Diaz‐Strong, D. X., & Gonzales, R. G. (2023). The divergent adolescent and adult transitions of Latin American undocumented minors. Child Development Perspectives. http://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12478
García, A., Diaz-Strong, D.X., & Rodriguez Rodriguez, Y. (2022). A matter of time: The life course implications of deferred action for undocumented Latin American immigrants in the United States. Social Problems. https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spac049
Diaz-Strong, D., Geiger, J., & Cormack Orellana, C. (2022). “I think there’s a lot of intersectionality”: The College experiences of immigrant-origin Latinx young adults with a foster care background. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000460
Diaz-Strong, D. X. (2021). “When did I stop being a child?” The subjective feeling of adulthood of Mexican and Central American 1.25 generation immigrants. Emerging Adulthood. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696821992141
Canizales, S., and Diaz-Strong, D. X. (2021), “Undocumented childhood arrivals in the U.S.: Widening the frame for research and policy,” Immigration Initiative at Harvard Issue Brief Series no. 11. Cambridge MA: Harvard University.
Diaz-Strong, D. X. (2021). “She Did Not Find One That Was for Me”: The College Pathways of the Mexican and Central American Undocumented 1.25 Generation. Harvard Educational Review, 91(1), 83-108. https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-91.1.83
Diaz-Strong, D. X., Roth, B. J., Velazquillo, A., & Zuch, M. (2021). Social Work Research on Immigrants: A Content Analysis of Leading Journals from 2007 to 2016. Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swab004
Diaz-Strong, D. X. (2020). “Why we could not study:” The gendered enrollment barriers of 1.25 Generation Immigrants. Children and Youth Services Review, 122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105889
Diaz-Strong, D. X. (2020). “Estaba bien chiquito” (I Was Very Young): The Transition to Adulthood and “Illegality” of the Mexican and Central American 1.25 Generation. Journal of Adolescent Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558420933231
Diaz-Strong, D.X., & Ybarra, M. (2016). Disparities in high school completion among Latino childhood arrivals: The impact of the age-at-arrival and immigration status. Children and Youth Services Review, 71, 282-289.
Diaz-Strong, D., Gomez, C., Luna-Duarte, M., & Meiners, E. (2011). Purged: Undocumented students, financial aid policies, and access to higher education. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 10 (2), 107-119.
Diaz-Strong, D., Gomez, C., Luna-Duarte, M.E., Meiners, E.R., & Valentin, L. (2009). Organizing tensions: From the prison to the military industrial complex. Social Justice, 36 (2), 73-84.
Diaz-Strong, D., & Meiners, E. (2007). Residents, alien policies, and resistances: Experiences of undocumented Latina/o students in Chicago’s colleges and universities. InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies, 3 (2).
Books and Book Chapters
Diaz-Strong, D., Luna-Duarte, M., Gomez, C.*, & Meiners, E.R.* (2014). Too close to the work/There is nothing right now. In M. T. Winn, & D. Paris (Eds.), Humanizing Research: Decolonizing Qualitative Inquiry with Youth and Communities. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
Diaz-Strong, D., Gomez, C., Luna-Duarte, M., & Meiners, E.* (2012). Undocumented Latino youth strategizing for access to higher education. In P. Noguera, A. Hurtado & E. Fergus (Eds.), Understanding the Disenfranchisement of Latino Males: Contemporary Perspectives on Cultural and Structural Factors. New York: Routledge.
Editorial Reviews
Children and Youth Services Review
Journal of Community Practice
Journal of Adolescent Research
Education
BA, National-Louis University
MA, Northeastern Illinois University
MSW, University of Chicago
PhD, University of Chicago
Professional Memberships
Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR)
American Educational Research Association (AERA)
Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood (SSEA)