Saba Lily Modaressi

Saba Modaressi (she/her/hers) is a Ph.D. student in Education and a Provost's Fellow at USC Rossier School of Education. Under the advisement of Dr. Jessica DeCuir-Gunby, Saba specializes in educational psychology.

Before joining USC, Saba earned dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology and Integrated Educational Studies with an emphasis in Leadership Studies from Chapman University. Her passion for supporting historically marginalized students has driven her to serve in various roles delivering behavioral health and academic support services to diverse populations.

Saba's academic and professional experiences, coupled with her personal experience as an ethnic minority in the public education system, have fueled her commitment to researching how race, racism, and educational inequities shape marginalized students' psychological and academic experience. She is particularly focused on utilizing critical methodologies to examine the experiences of an undertudied population: Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) college students. 

Quality and equitable education, accessible resources, and inclusion for all identities should be a right, not a privilege; Saba intends to dedicate her career in research, policy, and practice to making this statement a reality.

• DeCuir-Gunby, J. T., McCoy, W. N., & Modaressi, S. L. (2024). Critical race mixed methodology (CRMM) as a transformative method: The benefits and challenges [special issue]. Methods in Psychology, 11, e100168. 
• DeCuir-Gunby, J. T., McCoy, W. N., Gibson, S. M., Modaressi, S. L., & Macias, A. J. (2024). Using critical race mixed methodology to explore African American college students’ experiences with microaggressions [special issue]. Innovative Higher Education, (2024), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-024-09732-6