Our Expertise
Led by Dr. Melissa L. Salazar, the ESCALA team has accumulated 70+ years of experience as college instructors, instructional coaches, administrators, student advisors, curriculum developers, and K-12 educators. All the consultants at ESCALA have significant experience in teaching and coaching science, engineering and mathematics, and therefore specialize in working with STEM faculty.
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Our Mission
ESCALA (Spanish for “striving”) is a consortium of higher education consultants based in the U.S. Southwest who are committed personally and professionally to increasing the retention and graduation rates of underrepresented students in higher education.
ESCALA works specifically with Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) to close the gap in educational access and completion rates for Latinos, mainly through faculty development programming and remedial program evaluation. Since 2012, we have contracted with eight HSIs across the Southwest and California to conduct program evaluation as well as design and facilitate Title V and III sponsored faculty development programs. Members of our team are also popular guest speakers at conferences and campus-wide symposia, on topics regarding the cultural disconnects underrepresented students experience in higher education. |
The Research on Faculty Development: Why Faculty Matter
ESCALA consultants are researchers as well as practitioners. We subscribe to a data-driven, research-based model to college instruction, and use peer-reviewed publications from cognitive science, neuroscience, and psychology to support the classroom practices we promote. To ensure everything we do is relevant in the HSI classroom, we test all the instructional techniques we promote in our faculty development with our own students.
Melissa L. Salazar, Ph.D.
(PhD Science Education, University of California-Davis, BS Chemistry UC Berkeley). Dr. Salazar has over 20 years of experience in the field of education as an instructional coach, curriculum designer, grant writer, and professor of math and science education. She launched ESCALA Educational Services LLC in 2013 to address a growing collegiate interest in best practices in teaching and learning.
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Catherine Martinez Berryhill, Ph.D.
PhD Curriculum and Instruction, New Mexico State University). Dr. Berryhill is currently a full-time faculty member at the College of the Southwest, and is the former Dean of College of Education at Northern New Mexico College. A native of northern New Mexico, Dr. Berryhill specializes in culturally relevant teaching for Latino students, and is a popular guest speaker on cross-cultural disconnects in higher ed.
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Andres C. Salazar, Ph.D.
PhD Electrical Engineering, Michigan State University). Dr. Salazar is a Research Professor at the University of New Mexico. He assists in the evaluation of US Dept. of Education Title V grants at HSI colleges in California, Colorado, and Texas. His research involves instructional methods that close the achievement gap for Latino students in higher education.
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