Professor Yolanda Wiggins

Dr. Yolanda Wiggins grew up in Washington, D.C. and credits her academic success and career trajectory to her participation in pre-college and college enrichment programs. Dr. Wiggins is a proud alumna of Georgetown University’s Kids To College Program, University of Maryland’s Upward Bound Program, and West Virginia University’s Student Support Services TRIO and Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Programs.  As a first-generation college student, these experiences fuel her commitment to understand inequality and her drive to take steps to remove barriers for marginalized groups of color.

In  college, Dr. Wiggins majored in political science and economics. With hopes of becoming a lawyer, she interned in the U.S. House of Representatives, West Virginia Legislature, and with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation; however, her experiences conducting research alongside a sociology professor opened her eyes to the possibility of pursuing a doctoral degree. She then went on to earn a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

As both a sociologist and political scientist, Dr. Wiggins has offered her research expertise by interning and working for a wide-range of organizations including the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, and Office of Minority Health and U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C. Her recommendation to students: “go where opportunities take you and never ever limit yourself.” Dr. Wiggins has also been featured on public radio as a scholarly source on educational inequalities and has published on topics related to access and educational opportunity gaps in the L.A. Times and San Francisco Chronicle. Dr. Wiggins is now an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences at SJSU.