Ruth Enid Zambrana
Distinguished University Professor, The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Director,
Affiliate Professor, American Studies
Affiliate Faculty, Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center
Affiliate Faculty, Department of Sociology
Affiliate Faculty, Department of African American and Africana Studies
Affiliate Faculty Department of Behavioral and Community Health
301-405-0451rzambran@umd.edu
4117 Susquehanna Hall
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Research Expertise
Educational and Social Inequalities
Equity
Gender
Health
Higher Education
Institutional Discrimination
Intersectionality
Latino/a/x and Immigrant Communities
Race/Ethnicity
Reproductive Health
Reproductive Justice
Dr. Zambrana is a Distinguished University Professor in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and prior Director of the Consortium on Race, Gender and Ethnicity at the University of Maryland College Park (2005-2026). She has a secondary appointment as Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Medicine. As an internationally recognized social scientist, Dr. Zambrana has published widely on health inequity in her major research concentrations: race/ethnic population groups, women’s health, maternal and child health, socioeconomic health disparities, and life course impacts on health and mental health outcomes of traditionally and historically underrepresented minorities. Her interdisciplinary work contributes to a deeper understanding of the multiple social and political determinants of health, including discrimination, that produce long-term systemic barriers to health care access with adverse consequences for health outcomes among economically disadvantaged groups.
Her recent scholarship examines the intersections of higher education institutional environments and its impacts on academic communities. Her prior work investigated the experiences of underrepresented early career scholars and the institutional factors associated with academic success and work stress at U.S. university research institutions. Her current work, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, examines the perceptions of senior and mid-career leadership and their experiences and perceptions of what constitues a healthy, fair and equitable institution of higher learning.
Dr. Zambrana has authored/coauthored significant publications, books, articles, reviews, and reports. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. The most recent include: the APHA Lyndon Haviland Public Health Mentoring Award 2021; the Distinguished Research Fellow at the Latino Research Institute UT, Austin 2021-2022; elected member of the National Academy of Medicine 2022; John P. McGovern Endowed Annual Award in Lectureship in Family, Health and Human Values 2023; and Distinguished Research Fellow of Health and Higher Education Studies at Ohio State University, Kirwan Institute for Race and Social Justice 2025.
Publications
Toxic Ivory Towers: The Consequences of Work Stress on Underrepresented Minority Faculty
A new book by Ruth Enid Zambrana documents the professional work experiences of underrepresented minority faculty in U.S. higher education.
Author/Lead: Ruth Enid Zambrana
By Ruth Enid Zambrana, professor and interim chair of women’s studies, director of the Consortium on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity
"Toxic Ivory Towers," seeks to document the professional work experiences of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty in U.S. higher education, and simultaneously address the social and economic inequalities in their life course trajectory. Ruth Enid Zambrana finds that despite the changing demographics of the nation, the percentages of Black and Hispanic faculty have increased only slightly, while the percentages obtaining tenure and earning promotion to full professor have remained relatively stagnant. Toxic Ivory Towers is the first book to take a look at the institutional factors impacting the ability of URM faculty to be successful at their jobs, and to flourish in academia. The book captures not only how various dimensions of identity inequality are expressed in the academy and how these social statuses influence the health and well-being of URM faculty, but also how institutional policies and practices can be used to transform the culture of an institution to increase rates of retention and promotion so URM faculty can thrive.
