Roberto Pena received his B.A. from the State University of New York College at Buffalo in 1984 and his M.A. in secondary English Education from SUNY Buffalo in 1988. He completed his dissertation and received his Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1993. Prior to joining the College of Education faculty at Seattle University in 2001, Dr. Pena was promoted from Assistant to Associate Professor in the College of Education at Arizona State University.

Dr. Pena's research interests involve examining egalitarian issues and the extent to which individuals from traditionally marginalized groups are provided access to freedom. His research and scholarly work has been published in Bilingual Research Journal, Educational Administration Quarterly, International Journal for Leadership and Learning, Teaching and Learning, and numerous other tier-one journals.