LINGUISTIC MINORITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

The University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute (UC LMRI) was established in 1984 in response to the California Legislature's request that the University of California's Office of the President pursue "...knowledge applicable to educational policy and practice in the area of language minority students' academic achievement and knowledge," including their access to the University of California and other institutions of higher education. The UC LMRI was first established as a research project and became a Multi-campus Research Unit (MRU) in 1992.

To carry out its mission, the UC LMRI has undertaken a number of activities in three related areas:

• Funding research of UC faculty and graduate students;
• Providing research training for pre-doctoral and postdoctoral students;
• Disseminating research findings to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. 

These activities have included the funding of both small seed grants and larger thematic grants to faculty throughout the UC system.  Between 1984 and 2005, UC LMRI has awarded almost $2.5 million in competitive grants to 93 UC faculty and 39 UC graduate students on 8 of the 10 UC campuses, and funded over $600,000 in non-competitive research activities.  

The UC LMRI is governed by a Director and a Faculty Steering Committee appointed by the Office of the President.  The systemwide headquarters has been located at UC Santa Barbara since 1987.  The UC LMRI established an Education Policy Center at UC Davis in 1997 with an Associate Director of Policy to disseminate research findings to policymakers.

• Russell W. Rumberger, Director
• Laura Romo. Assistant Director
• Shawndel Malcolm, Management Services Officer
• Beverly Bavaro, Editor / Web Manager
• Jacob Jaffe, Student Tech Assistant
• Kristin Ojala, Graduate Student Assistant

• Jamal Abedi, representing UC Davis
• Adalberto Aguirre, Jr., representing UC Riverside
• Joseph Castro, representing UC San Francisco
• Margaret Gibson, representing UC Santa Cruz
• Kris Gutierrez, representing UC Los Angeles
• Paula Levin, representing UC San Diego
• Jin Sook Lee, representing UC Santa Barbara
• Robert Ochsner, representing UC Merced
• Robin Scarcella, representing UC Irvine
• Laura Sterponi, representing UC Berkeley


• Dante Noto, UC Office of the President, Ex Officio
• Jeannie Oakes, UC ACCORD (UCLA), Ex Officio
• Laura Romo, UC Santa Barbara, Ex Officio
• Russell W. Rumberger, UC Santa Barbara, Ex Officio
• Patricia Gandara, UCLA, Ex Officio

• 2006-07 Visiting Scholars
• Visiting Scholars (1994-1998)
• Bilingual Ed Doctoral Fellows (1993-2001)