Dr. Elizabeth Trejos-Castillo

Vice Provost for International Affairs

Texas Tech University

Dr. Elizabeth Trejos-Castillo, C.R. Hutcheson Professor in Human Development & Family Sciences (HDFS), is the founding director of the TTU Cross-Cultural Studies (CCS) Program that includes a graduate minor and an online graduate certificate (2011-present). She has served as Graduate Program Director and Associate Chair in the HDFS department and as a Provost Faculty Fellow.

She was also the founder director of the online Masters in Youth Development - Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (GPIDEA; 2014-2021). She serves as an International Adjunct Professor in the Department of Social Work, College of Applied Social Sciences at State University of Ponta Grossa, Paraná-Brazil (2018-present) and in the School of Medicine, Biostatistics & Epidemiology (2014-present) and the Department of Psychology (2012-present) at CES University, Colombia (South America). Dr. Trejos-Castillo is a two-time Fulbright Scholar recipient and has served as TTU Fulbright liaison since 2019.

Her research focuses on positive youth development, externalizing and internalizing behaviors, toxic-stress, trauma and resilience in ethnic and racial minorities and underserved populations as well as cross-cultural/cross-national mixed comparative methodologies and participatory action research (PAR).

Trejos-Castillo has edited two books Handbook of Foster Youth (2018-Routledge) and Youth: Practices, Perspectives and Challenges (2013-Nova Science), and has over 70 scholarly publications and book chapters in national/international journals and volumes in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Her research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; Fulbright; U.S. Department of Justice; U.S. Department of Education; U.S. Administration on Children, Youth, & Families; The Administrative Department for Science, Technology & Innovation of Colombia (South America); São Paulo-Brazil Research Foundation; and the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education among other organizations. She has also served as a reviewer and consultant for national and international grant mechanisms such as U.S. Department of Justice; United Kingdom Research and Innovation Institute; Fulbright U.S. Scholars Program; U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs; Athens Institute for Education & Research (ATINER, Greece); Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research; and National Commission of Scientific and Technological Investigation, Chile among others. 

Over the past 25 years, Trejos-Castillo has worked closely with numerous national and international collaborators (e.g., Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Greece, Honduras, India, Iran, Norway, Spain, Sweden) as well as several local community and statewide partners (e.g., Lubbock ISD, Lubbock-Cooper ISD, Spur ISD, office of dispute resolution for Lubbock county, court appointed special advocates-CASA, Lubbock police department, Bexar county juvenile probation department) to support the well-being and positive development of minority and vulnerable youth.

Trejos-Castillo holds a double associate degree in performing arts (theater) and creative writing (poetry) from the Conservatory of Castella (Costa Rica, 1990), and a double bachelor's degree in psychology and English rhetoric, professional and business communications with a minor in graphic design from Iowa State University (1996). She also holds a master's degree in rural sociology (2003) and a doctorate in human development and family studies from Auburn University (2006). 

Contact the Vice Provost for International Affairs