Desireé Vega, PhD
2025 Mentoring Future Scholars Award
Dr. Desireé Vega earned her B.A. in Psychology from Binghamton University-State University of New York and her M.A. and Ph.D. in School Psychology from The Ohio State University. She worked as a bilingual school psychologist at Omaha Public Schools (2010-2013) and was a faculty member at Texas State University (2013-2016) before joining the University of Arizona in 2016.
Dr. Vega is an Associate Professor, Ph.D. Program Director, and Faculty Chair of the School Psychology program. A Licensed Psychologist and Nationally Certified School Psychologist, she serves as a Faculty Fellow for the University Fellows Program, mentoring fellows through professional development, community engagement, leadership, research, and interdisciplinary collaboration through their year-long colloquium course. Dr. Vega was formerly a Faculty Fellow for the Thrive Center, where she worked closely with the First Cats program (2018-2020) to support first-generation college students like herself.
Dr. Vega’s research, teaching, and service aim to advance learning outcomes for culturally and linguistically diverse students and prepare school psychologists and researchers to engage in advocacy and implement culturally responsive practices. Her research focuses on three primary areas: 1) Understanding bilingual school psychology training and practice; 2) Preparing school psychologists for culturally competent assessment and intervention; and 3) Building collaborations to advance college access and persistence. Dr. Vega was a co-principal investigator on a $1.03M U.S. Department of Education grant at Texas State University (2014–2016) to develop a bilingual school psychology specialization, and was recently awarded a Spencer Foundation grant ($49,828; 2023–2026) to examine school psychologists’ assessment practices with bilingual students under Arizona’s restrictive English-only legislation.
Dr. Vega has received numerous awards and honors for mentoring, teaching, scholarship, and service, including the Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring Award (2021), the New Leader Award (The Ohio State University, 2021), and the Presidential Award for Exceptional Service to Children and School Psychology (National Association of School Psychologists, 2023). She was selected as a Catalyst Scholar (2022) to mentor early career school psychology faculty, HSI Fellow (2019-2020), and Maria Urquides Laureate Award recipient (2018) for her commitment to serving bilingual and bicultural communities.