Pilar Mendoza is a full professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis (ELPA) and the Founding Director of the International Research Center for the Development of Education (CIIDE) at the University of Missouri-Columbia. CIIDE is a unique partnership with UNIMINUTO, the largest university system in Colombia serving marginalized students throughout the country. In 2019, CIIDE was recognized among the Best Practices in Internationalization in the Americas by the College of the Americas of the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education.

Dr. Mendoza’s scholarly activity has significantly impacted internationalization efforts and the development of higher education in Latin America. Her efforts have brought over 70 U.S. faculty, students, and administrators from multiple institutions in the U.S. to Colombia for a variety of internationalization experiences. She has been recognized with multiple awards including the 2018 MU International Engagement Award, the 2019 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award, and the 2024 ASHE CIHE Award for Significant Research on International Higher Education among others. In 2025, Dr. Mendoza was inducted into the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship (ACES). Her work has attracted external funding from USAID, the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright U.S. Scholars Program, the U.S. State Department, and from UNIMINUTO, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Hawaii.

A productive author, Dr. Mendoza has over 60 published works in English and Spanish, including books, book chapters, and journal articles, many in the top journals in the field. Her international reputation has resulted in several invitations as a keynote speaker with hundreds of attendees from Latin American universities at high-profile events hosted by international organizations including UNESCO, MUFRAMEX (France), and BINARIO (Ecuador).

Areas of Expertise

• International and comparative higher education
• Coloniality, neoliberalism, globalization, and academic capitalism
• College student retention and success; college affordability; the professoriate