Ph.D. Educational Administration, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1987 M.S. Industrial Relations, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1982 B.S. Public Administration and Policy Studies, National University of Mexico, 1979 Diploma in Economics. The Economics Institute. University of Colorado at Boulder, 1980.
Languages Spoken
English Spanish Portuguese (read & listening)
Bio
Dr. Cabrera is a professor emeritus at UMD, and scholar-in-residence at the Center for Postsecondary Readiness and Success (CPRS) at the American University. His research interests include the impact of college on students, college choice, classroom experiences, minorities in higher education, college outcomes, and college graduates. He was also co-principal investigator for the IES grant titled Dream Deferred, which provided a most comprehensive review of the impact of GEAR UP on awareness and readiness for college among low-income middle school students. He was the co-leader of the Diversity Institute, a project funded by NSF seeking to create inclusive teaching practices in STEM fields. His work has received several awards including the H. S. Warwick Award for Outstanding Published Scholarship in Alumni Relations and the ASHE Early Career Award. He has been a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Penn State University, SUNY-Albany, and Arizona State University-West campus. He has served on the advisory boards of Pathways to College Network, the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC)'s Student Outcomes, the GEAR UP Evaluation Council of the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP), and the Higher Education Accreditation Agency of the Provincial Government of Aragon, Spain. Dr. Cabrera has also served on the National College Access Network's board of directors as well as on the editorial boards of Journal of Higher Education, Review of Higher Education and Research in Higher Education, and Revista Complutense de Educacion. He is the recipient of two Fulbright awards. In 2009-10, on a Fulbright award, Dr. Cabrera worked with the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) and the Federal University of Santa Maria (Universidade Federal de Santa Maria or UFSM) in developing performance indicators for assessing classroom teaching practices and student learning among Brazilian college students. In 2018, he received a second Fulbright award to teach and conduct research at the La Salle University in Canoas, Brazil. Dr. Cabrera has also advised and consulted with several universities in the USA and in Brazil, Mexico and Chile. In 2018, for instance, Dr. Cabrera assisted the prestigious School of Engineering of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC) in the assessment of learning gains resulting from incorporating design, innovation, and entrepreneurship in undergraduate engineering education. In 2012, he was inducted as an AERA Fellow in recognition of sustained achievement in education research. In 2015, ASHE granted him the mentor of the year award. In 2021, UMD president named him Professor Emeritus. In 2021, he received the Governor’s citation Award in recognition for dedicated service to the state of Maryland.
