Sara McKinnon

Sara McKinnon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, serving as Faculty Director of Latin American, Caribbean & Iberian Studies and co-chair of the Human Rights Program. Her work focuses on migration policy, transnational rhetoric, and U.S. asylum law. She holds affiliations in Gender and Women’s Studies and Chican@ & Latin@ Studies.

Education:

• Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2008
• M.A., Arizona State University, 2005
• B.A., Western Michigan University, 2001

Research Interests: McKinnon examines U.S. refugee policy, migration dynamics in Latin America, and transnational foreign policy. Her current projects include a collaborative effort to expand legal resources for migrants in Latin America and an analysis of U.S.-Mexico-Central America relations addressing drug trafficking and violence. She employs qualitative and field-based methodologies, bridging rhetoric and social justice.

Awards & Grants:

• 2025-2026 Reilly-Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Grant for the Latine Comic Collective
• 2020-2022 Vilas Associates Award
• 2019 Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award

Advising & Grants: McKinnon leads initiatives like the “Safe Passage through the Darién Gap” project and collaborates on migrant media advocacy. She advises students in communication, migration studies, and gender research.

Labs/Teams: Her work is anchored in the Migration Americas project (https://migrationamericas.commarts.wisc.edu/), exploring legal and rhetorical dimensions of migration.