Fresno State associate professor Larissa Mercado-Lopez is featured in “Diverse: Issues in Higher Education” magazine as a 2018 Emerging Scholar.

Mercado-Lopez is among 15 other individuals featured as “emerging scholars” in the magazine’s January edition.

The magazine explains that the chosen emerging scholars are individuals who have made efforts towards equal rights for all.

Mercado-Lopez’s article, titled “Embracing Motherhood,” details her life,­including her work related to student-parents. Mercado-Lopez became pregnant towards the end of her college career, according to a news release about her article. ­

Initially, she was concerned that motherhood would deter her from having a career. In graduate school, Mercado-Lopez became more accepting of her status as a mother.

In addition, Mercado-Lopez surveyed student parents at Fresno State and found that many of them didn’t know the rights granted to them under Title IX. For example, Title IX protects pregnant students and student parents, among other different groups, from discrimination.

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