Dr. Elizabeth Trejos-Castillo

Vice Provost for International Affairs

Texas Tech University

Dr. Elizabeth Trejos-Castillo serves as vice provost for International Affairs and C.R. Hutcheson Professor in Human Development & Family Sciences (HDFS). As TTU Senior International Officer (SIO), she oversees university internationalization efforts and operations as well as resources provided to international students, faculty, and admin/staff. Trejos-Castillo is a two-time Fulbright recipient and has served as TTU Fulbright liaison since 2019.

She 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 was also the founder director of the online Masters in Youth Development - Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (GPIDEA; 2014-2021). In addition, she has served as Graduate Program Director and Associate Chair in the HDFS department and as a Provost Faculty Fellow. She is currently 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) at CES University, Colombia (South America). 

Trejos-Castillo’s research focuses on positive youth development, externalizing/internalizing behaviors, toxic-stress, trauma and resilience in minority and underserved youth as well as cross-cultural/cross-national mixed comparative methodologies and participatory action research (PAR). She 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 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 national/international organizations.

She is a TTU Teaching Academy Member and has received several university and external honors and awards including President’s Excellence in Teaching; Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching; Integrated Scholar; Excellence in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity; Faculty International Scholarship; President’s Academic Achievement; “20 Under 40” Young Professionals of Greater Lubbock; Top 14 Hispanic Professors in Texas; National Executive Session on the Future of Justice Policy Member, 2018-2020 by Columbia University and MacArthur Foundation among others.  

Over the past 30 years, Trejos-Castillo has worked closely with numerous national and international collaborators (e.g., Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Greece, Honduras, India, Norway, Spain, Sweden) as well as several local community and statewide partners (e.g., Lubbock ISD, 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).

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-trejos-castillo-57471314/ 

Contact the Vice Provost for International Affairs