A three-time University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumna, Velázquez earned her B.A. in Political Science and Latina/o Studies from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from the College of Education. Velázquez is also faculty in the Department of Latina/o Studies.

How would you describe your work?

I am an interdisciplinary scholar and my work centers history of education, women's history, Puerto Rican studies, gender and sexuality, and teacher education. I consider myself a historian of education because of my own relationship to schools and schooling, especially as it relates to my identity and community. I am currently working on a book project that historicizes Puerto Rican women and other Latina activists in higher education across the Midwest, from the 1970s to the 1990s, as they worked to create homespaces.