Julia Gutierrez

Julia Gutierrez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Agnes Scott College, where she contributes to interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of poverty, immigration, and gender. Her research centers on Latina immigrant women’s experiences with poverty in urban U.S. contexts, particularly in Chicago.

Her educational background includes a BA from Northeastern Illinois University, an MA from the University of Wisconsin, and a PhD from Arizona State University. These qualifications ground her expertise in feminist social science research.

Dr. Gutierrez’s research interests include feminist qualitative methods, transnational feminism, intersectionality, and borderlands theory. She critically examines how poverty is measured beyond income, advocating for multidimensional approaches that incorporate healthcare, housing, food insecurity, and education. Using the Alkire-Foster methodology, she has developed frameworks to assess the depth of poverty in marginalized communities.

Her recent publications and presentations reflect a strong trajectory in poverty research, particularly through feminist lenses. The body of work demonstrates consistent engagement with urban poverty, immigrant resilience, and policy implications. Themes across her articles highlight methodological innovation, narrative-centered inquiry, and structural inequality.

• Presented at major conferences including the American Studies Association, National Women’s Studies Association, and the ACS Data Users Conference.
• Contributor to the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality’s American Voices Project, the largest national mixed-methods study on U.S. poverty.
• Published in QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking and Stanford reports.

Dr. Gutierrez teaches courses such as Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Intersectional Research Methods, and U.S. Women of Color and Economic Inequality. While no formal advisees are listed, her mentorship is evident through her pedagogical focus on equity and inclusion. She has not received named scientific awards, but her research has been supported through institutional collaborations. There is no mention of a lab or research team, though her work suggests collaborative engagement with national research initiatives.