IRIS S. DE LIS
Sociologist ◦ Engaged Researcher ◦ Seasoned Leader ◦
Strategist ◦ Instructor ◦ Facilitator ◦ Author ◦
Graduate Student ◦ Academic Professional ◦
Public Intellectual ◦ Activist ◦ Interdisciplinary Scholar
Welcome! If you find we have shared interests, I hope we’ll connect and perhaps collaborate — on a paper, a project, a book, a syllabus, a podcast, an event — or at least share some ideas, favorite resources and tools we’ve found particularly helpful… or perhaps just some enjoyable conversation.
Insatiably curious
lifelong learner, scholar, & activist.
Areas of Interest
◦ accessibility ◦ adult education ◦ artificial intelligence ◦ capitalism/consumerism ◦ data ethics ◦ data science ◦ digital living ◦ disability justice ◦ disability services ◦ ◦ economic justice ◦ education as a global common good ◦ expansive education ◦ fear/conservatism ◦ higher education ◦ holistic education ◦ intersectional feminism ◦ learning assessment ◦ machine learning ◦ masculinity ◦ neoliberalism ◦ patriarchy ◦ ◦ racial justice ◦ sense of belonging ◦ sociology ◦ student success ◦ trans & queer liberation
Iris S. De Lis
I completed a master’s program in Summer 2024 in Postsecondary Adult and Continuing Education, and just completed my application for a sociology doctoral program in hopes of starting Fall 2025. In the meantime, I am taking sociology courses on a post-bacc basis.
I am Assistant Director, Academic Testing Services at Portland State University — part of Student Academic Support Services within the Division of Student Success, Academic Affairs. In this role, I lead this institutional center of excellence for academic learning assessment. My team and I are dedicated to supporting students and faculty in providing an equitable and accessible opportunity for students to showcase their learning.
My passions converge in informing, empowering, and collaborating with postsecondary educators and staff in creating holistic educational equity and inclusive, effective learning environments. Above all, I am dedicated to doing everything I can to effectively learn, inspire, collaborate, and lead toward facilitating holistic student success. More broadly, I am committed to defending education in the United States against the intensifying attacks from regressive forces operating at every level—from local meetings to the highest halls of power. My aim is to help make education in the U.S. a resource for the common good and the betterment of an inclusive society.
My knowledge and expertise have been informed and enriched by my experience as a first-generation, non-traditional transfer student who returned to college after a very long break. Prior to my work in higher education, I spent over two decades in the international software and digital services industries. In 2017, I left the corporate world and enrolled at Portland State University, where I earned a BA in 1) Sexuality, Gender, and Queer Studies, and 2) the Honors College, and a minor in Spanish. I was a student employee at the Disability Resource Center during this time, and held many other roles on campus, as well.