Department of Counseling, Family Therapy and Higher Education

Daniel Rios Arroyo is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education at Appalachian State University. He holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research examines the college access, transition, belonging, and persistence of rural Latinx students, with a focus on how race and rurality intersect to shape their experiences in universities that are often urban-centered.

His scholarship uses qualitative methods that center students' lived experiences by utilizing Chicana and Latina feminist pláticas. He draws on asset-based frameworks such as Community Cultural Wealth, Latino Critical Race Theory, and Bridging Multiple Worlds to move inquiry away from deficit explanations and toward the strengths rural Latinx students bring from their families and rural communities. His research highlights three recurring factors that influence outcomes for rural Latinx undergraduates: academic preparation and advising pipelines that reflect uneven K–12 rural resources, campus racial climate and everyday racialization that undermine belonging, and social class disparities that limit engagement and persistence. Dr. Rios Arroyo's work has been published in various different peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of Research in Rural Education, Journal of Latinos and Education, Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, and New Directions for Community Colleges.

Through research, teaching, and service, he advances evidence-informed strategies that recognize the diversity of rural communities and promote institutional responsibility for equitable college access and completion for rural students.

Selected Publications

• Puente, M., Nuñez Martinez, M., Rios Arroyo, D., & Torres, S. (2023). Rural Latinx Students’ Spatial Imaginations of Their College Choices: Toward a Student Understanding of “Rural-Serving Institutions” in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Education Sciences, 13(7), 660. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13070660
• Puente, M., Nuñez Martinez, M., Rios Arroyo, D., & Romero, M. (2025). A Critical Race Spatial Analysis of Rural Latinx Community College Students’ Academic and Career Opportunities in California's San Joaquin Valley. New Directions for Community Colleges, e70001.
• Rios Arroyo, D. (2025). Navigating New Worlds: The College Transition of Rural Latinx Undergraduate Students from California's San Joaquin Valley. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 41(3), n3.
• Rios Arroyo, D. (2025). A Valley of Aspirations: Examining the Factors Influencing the College Persistence of Rural Latinx Undergraduates from California’s San Joaquin Valley. Journal of Latinos and Education, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2025.2477498