Austin Escalera

Education

• MEd in Student Development Administration, Seattle University
• BA in Communications, University of Washington Tacoma
• AA, South Puget Sound Community College

Biography

Austin Escalera is an assistant director of graduate student services at the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University. He recently received his master’s in student development administration from Seattle University.

Prior to joining Northeastern, Escalera was an assistant area coordinator for Seattle University’s Housing and Residence Life, where he helped oversee the daily operations and community programming for three residence halls. Escalera works in higher education because it was an advisor during his community college career who helped him feel valued and cared for. When he struggled, his advisor pushed him to go back to school and made him feel belonged in higher education.

Escalera believes the best part of his job is working directly with students, learning about their stories, backgrounds, and journeys. He finds helping students during these critical times of their lives extremely rewarding. Escalera resonates with Khoury College’s mission of bringing computer science to everyone. As a BIPOC man, he has seen his Pacific Islander community struggle in higher education, mainly due to insufficient financial resources which limits students' ability to pursue school past K-12. However, with Khoury College's goal and mission, Escalera believes we can truly make a difference in communities where tech and computer science have been inaccessible.