Wisdom and creative aging are aspects of Gloria's doctoral research, The Lived Experience of Norteñas de Nuevo Méjico: Finding Voice and Claiming Identity. This study introduced to the literature a geographical, cultural, historically specific group of Latinas who, despite the marginalization they experienced, developed strengths from the richness and complexity of their life experiences.

The research identifies themes of dissonance and consonance in life experience with respect to language, religion, education, skin color, family and relationships, and ethnic identity, finding that the essence of their experience is constituted in their genealogy: They’ve been here forever in their ancestral homeland in what is now northern New Mexico. Further interpretation identified a second- order finding, thesis-antithesis: the dynamic of holding the tension; and a third-order finding, synthesis: being-and-bearing-witness to oppression. The study gives voice to the participant Latinas who live between cultures and reveals more fully the essence of their lived experience, presenting their lives lived as art and bodies lived as sites of struggle.

Gloria resides in Los Alamos in northern New Mexico. She describes herself personally and professionally as a teacher and a developer of people, committed to making a positive difference in the world. Gloria‘s advocacy and service for women and minorities earned honors and recognition. Her work as a science educator was recognized by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and by the Manufacturing Chemists Association with its “Regional Award for Excellence in Chemistry Teaching and Dedication to Science Instruction.”

After retiring from a 20-year career at the Los Alamos (NM) National Laboratory, Gloria earned the PhD in Human Development in 2005, from the Fielding Graduate University (Santa Barbara, CA) in the Human and Organization Development (HOD) Program. She earned her Master’s degree in Organizational Development from the Fielding Graduate Institute and her Bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Mount St. Joseph College (Cincinnati, OH). Gloria's post-doctoral goal is to foster awareness and appreciation of the experience of self-understanding. By applying her expertise in phenomenology and critical Chicana feminist theory, her purpose is to raise consciousness in the reclamation and reconstruction of personal and ethnic identity.

She is a native of Trinidad, CO, descended from pioneer families in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. An avid genealogy researcher, she passionately pursues family history research, with a particular commitment to finding and honoring her Spanish-Mexican ancestral grandmothers and their families.