Tulane University

Originally from Lima, Peru, Jorge Valenzuela graduated with a B.A. in Sociology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru in 2005. He worked for several years in Peru as a research assistant in the evaluation of social projects before coming to the States to begin his graduate career. From 2008-2010, Jorge served as a graduate assistant at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Indiana University-Bloomington where he also earned his master’s degree in Latin American Studies. His master’s thesis, “Perceptions of Education for Social Mobility. A Case Study of Youth in a Brazilian Favela,” was a study that he carried out in Rio de Janeiro with the support of the Tinker Foundation. In 2010, he attended both the ILASSA Conference at the University of Texas at Austin as well as the Spring International Public Affairs Association Conference at Indiana where he presented papers focusing on higher education in Brazil. At Indiana, Jorge was the recipient of the International Student Merit Award in 2009 as well as the College of Arts and Sciences Travel Grant in 2010.

At the Stone Center, Jorge is focusing his research on the sociology of education and its effects in social stratification, particularly in Brazil. During his time at Tulane he has been the recipient of the Stone Center’s Summer Research Grant in 2011 and the Graduate Student Summer Merit Scholarship from the School of Liberal Arts in 2013. He has presented some of his research findings at the Tulane’s LAGO Annual Conference in 2012 and Indiana University’s CLACS Conference in 2013. In addition to that, his teaching performance at Tulane earned him the William J. Griffith Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant in Latin American Studies in 2013.