Dr. Margarita Bianco is an associate professor in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver and Founder of Pathways2Teaching. Her research interests include strategies to recruit and retain teachers of color and Grow Your Own (GYO) teacher programs for high school students of color in urban and rural communities.

Dr. Bianco’s work has been published in leading educational journals including Theory Into Practice, The Journal of Negro Education, The Urban Review, Urban Education, Teacher Education and Special Education, and Journal of Hispanic Higher Education.

Professor Bianco is the recipient of multiple awards including the Outstanding Researcher Award from the Council for Learning Disabilities, University of Colorado Denver’s Rosa Parks Diversity Award, the 2011 University of Colorado President’s Diversity Award, University of Colorado’s 2012 Teaching Excellence Award, and the University of Colorado's Timmerhaus Teaching Ambassador (2017-2019). In March 2019, Dr. Bianco was recognized by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education as one of the nation’s top 35 women in higher education.