University of North Texas 
Michelle Salazar Pérez
she/her/hers
Faculty, Teacher Education and Administration
Matthews Hall 206-E
Dr. Michelle Salazar Pérez is the Velma E. Schmidt Endowed Chair for Early Childhood Education & Professor of Early Childhood Studies at the University of North Texas. She uses women of color feminisms to inform her community collaborations, research, and pedagogy. These perspectives not only critically orient her work, but they also foreground the urgency to re-envision the field to support culturally sustaining praxis and programs for minoritized young children.Dr. Pérez’s past and current scholarship addresses early childhood policy reform, historical and contemporary constructions of childhood/s, teacher education, and critical qualitative methodologies. Her work has been published in Teachers College Record, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, Equity & Excellence in Education, the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Qualitative Inquiry, and Review of Research in Education. She has co-edited several special issues and books, including The SAGE Handbook of Global Childhoods .Dr. Pérez earned her Ph.D. from Arizona State University and her master's and undergraduate degrees from Texas A&M University in College Station. Prior to her appointment at the University of North Texas, she was a tenured Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at The University of Texas at Austin and New Mexico State University.
Yelland, N., Peters, L. E., Fairchild, N., Tesar, M., &Pérez, M. S. (Eds.). (2021). The Sage handbook of global childhoods. Sage.
Abril-Gonzalez, P., &Pérez, M. S. (2021). Pláticas on early childhood and bilingual education: Reckoning with the past to envision the future. In N. Yelland, L. E. Peters, N. Fairchild, M. Tesar, &M. S. Pérez (Eds.), The Sage handbook of global childhoods (pp. 111-124). Sage.
Díaz Bletrán, A., Abril-Gonzalez, P., Saavedra, C. M., &Pérez, M. S. (2021). Enlaces in reflections and (re)memberings as Latina border-crossers: Journeys of childhood and professional un/welcomings. Bank Street Occasional Papers, 45, 100-112.
Pérez, M.S., &Saavedra, C. M. (2020). Spiritual activism as a means for social transformation: Womanist and Chicana feminist possibilities. Equity and Excellence in Education, 53(3), 315-323.
Lucero, L., Araujo, B., & Pérez, M. S. (2020). Standardizing Latinx early childhood educators: (Un)intended consequences of policy reform to professionalize the workforce. Policy Futures in Education, 18(6), 725-738.
+Pérez, M. S., &+Saavedra, C. M. (2020). Womanist and Chicana/Latina feminist methodologies: Contemplations on the spiritual dimensions of research. In C. Taylor, C. Hughes, &J. Ulmer (Eds.). Transdisciplinary feminist research: Innovations in theory, method, and practice (pp. 124-137). Routledge.
Rideaux, K., &Pérez, M. S. (2019). Countering color-blindness in early childhood education: Enactments of social justice education by Black women educators. In S.A. Kessler, &B.B. Swadener (Eds.), Educating for Social Justice in Early Childhood (pp. 20-33). Routledge.
Pérez, M. S. (2019). Dismantling racialized discourses in early childhood education and care: A revolution towards reframing the field. In F. Nxumalo &C. P. Brown (Eds.), Disrupting and countering deficits in early childhood education (pp. 20-36). Routledge.
Lee, I. F., &Pérez, M. S. (Eds). (2019). Special Issue for the International Critical Childhood Policy Studies Journal (ICCPSJ), Foggy Futures in Education: The Looming Storms of School Choice and Voucher Programs, 7(2).
Pérez, M. S. (2019). Children’s media as a conduit for “unbiased” news: Critical reflections on the coverage of Trump’s presidential campaign. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 20(4), 350-362.
Pérez, M. S., Kim, K., &Cahill, B. (2019). Myrna’s children’s village: Reflections on a dynamic early childhood lab school community in southern New Mexico. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 20(3), 294-308.
Osgood, J., Robinson, K., Jones Diaz, C., Andersen, C. E., Pérez, M. S., Gunn, A., &Surtees, N. (Eds.). (2019). Special Issue for the Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood (CIEC), Revisiting Diversity &Difference in Early Childhood through Children’s News Media, 20(4), Winter Issue.
Forthcoming +alphabetical listing of authorship
Shelby-Caffey, C., Abril-Gonzalez, P., &Pérez, M. S. (In press). Excavating the methodological terrains of life writing: How and why we engage in re-memberings of Black and Chicana/Latina lived experiences. In L. E. Bailey &K. Hinton (Eds.), Racial dimensions of life writing research. Information Age Publishing.
+Odim, N., +Rideaux, K. S., &Perez, M. S. (In press). Womanist praxis in early childhood education and care: Educators’ nourishment of mind-body-spirit relations. In R. Langford &B. Richardson (Eds.), Feminisms and the early childhood educator subject: A critical conversation. Bloomsbury.
Abril-Gonzalez, P., &Pérez, M. S. (2021). Pláticas on early childhood and bilingual education: Reckoning with the past to envision the future. In N. Yelland, L. E. Peters, N. Fairchild, M. Tesar, &M. S. Pérez (Eds.), The Sage handbook of global childhoods (pp. 111-124). Sage.
Díaz Bletrán, A., Abril-Gonzalez, P., Saavedra, C. M., &Pérez, M. S. (2021). Enlaces in reflections and (re)memberings as Latina border-crossers: Journeys of childhood and professional un/welcomings. Bank Street Occasional Papers, 45, 100-112.
Pérez, M.S., &Saavedra, C. M. (2020). Spiritual activism as a means for social transformation: Womanist and Chicana feminist possibilities. Equity and Excellence in Education, 53(3), 315-323.
Lucero, L., Araujo, B., & Pérez, M. S. (2020). Standardizing Latinx early childhood educators: (Un)intended consequences of policy reform to professionalize the workforce. Policy Futures in Education, 18(6), 725-738.
+Pérez, M. S., &+Saavedra, C. M. (2020). Womanist and Chicana/Latina feminist methodologies: Contemplations on the spiritual dimensions of research. In C. Taylor, C. Hughes, &J. Ulmer (Eds.). Transdisciplinary feminist research: Innovations in theory, method, and practice (pp. 124-137). Routledge.
Rideaux, K., &Pérez, M. S. (2019). Countering color-blindness in early childhood education: Enactments of social justice education by Black women educators. In S.A. Kessler, &B.B. Swadener (Eds.), Educating for Social Justice in Early Childhood (pp. 20-33). Routledge.
Pérez, M. S. (2019). Dismantling racialized discourses in early childhood education and care: A revolution towards reframing the field. In F. Nxumalo &C. P. Brown (Eds.), Disrupting and countering deficits in early childhood education (pp. 20-36). Routledge.
Lee, I. F., &Pérez, M. S. (Eds). (2019). Special Issue for the International Critical Childhood Policy Studies Journal (ICCPSJ), Foggy Futures in Education: The Looming Storms of School Choice and Voucher Programs, 7(2).
Pérez, M. S. (2019). Children’s media as a conduit for “unbiased” news: Critical reflections on the coverage of Trump’s presidential campaign. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 20(4), 350-362.
Pérez, M. S., Kim, K., &Cahill, B. (2019). Myrna’s children’s village: Reflections on a dynamic early childhood lab school community in southern New Mexico. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 20(3), 294-308.
Osgood, J., Robinson, K., Jones Diaz, C., Andersen, C. E., Pérez, M. S., Gunn, A., &Surtees, N. (Eds.). (2019). Special Issue for the Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood (CIEC), Revisiting Diversity &Difference in Early Childhood through Children’s News Media, 20(4), Winter Issue.
Forthcoming +alphabetical listing of authorship
Shelby-Caffey, C., Abril-Gonzalez, P., &Pérez, M. S. (In press). Excavating the methodological terrains of life writing: How and why we engage in re-memberings of Black and Chicana/Latina lived experiences. In L. E. Bailey &K. Hinton (Eds.), Racial dimensions of life writing research. Information Age Publishing.
+Odim, N., +Rideaux, K. S., &Perez, M. S. (In press). Womanist praxis in early childhood education and care: Educators’ nourishment of mind-body-spirit relations. In R. Langford &B. Richardson (Eds.), Feminisms and the early childhood educator subject: A critical conversation. Bloomsbury.
