Adrián de la Rosa
adelaro1@austincc.edu

Adrián de la Rosa has been an an adjunct instructor in the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Austin Community College (ACC) for more than a decade. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology, a Masters degree in Sociology, and a law degree from Texas Tech University. Alongside his work with ACC, Adrián works as a capital investigator and mitigation specialist with experience working on behalf of individuals sentenced to death in Texas in both their federal and state habeas proceedings.

Adrián is a very active community member. At ACC, he mentors Latinx students and other underserved community college students with ACC’s Ascender Program, while also serving as an Adjunct Faculty Association Representative in the Adjunct Faculty Association, as well as a Voting Task-Force Member for the Department of Sociology and Social Work. In the capital community, Adrián currently co-chairs the Community and Media Engagement (C/ME) work group in the Texas Habeas Race Litigation Group. C/ME works to inform, educate and empower communities across the state of Texas about the death penalty, with a focus on its intersection with racial justice issues by developing greater awareness and support through community and media engagement generally, while also specifically engaging with organizations and media outlets that serve communities of color and other traditionally underserved communities. Adrián also currently serves on the Commission on Immigrant Affairs for the City of Austin where he focuses on issues of common concern to immigrants and immigrant communities. He also recently joined the board of Advancing Real Change, Inc., a national non-profit which strives toward a legal system rooted in equity by promoting justice by uncovering the full life stories of those facing extreme sentences and insisting on their humanity in a system built to dehumanize them.

Throughout his career, Adrián has been strongly influenced by his interests in sociology. Prior to his work in the capital community, Adrián led the community education efforts at the Texas Fair Defense Project (TFDP), a non-profit legal advocacy organization that works to improve the fairness of Texas’s criminal courts to ensure that all Texans have access to justice. Adrián also previously worked as a community organizer on immigrant labor and community development issues and served on the board of the Workers Defense Project (Proyecto Defensa Laboral), a membership-based organization that empowers low-income workers to achieve fair employment through education, direct services, organizing and strategic partnerships.

Adrián is a proud native West Texan with strong Mexican roots, a fluent Spanish-speaker, and an active volunteer with several non-profits in the Austin community.