Ricardo Contreras, PhD

Dr. Contreras is the executive director of Casa Latinos Unidos, a community-based nonprofit organization working in Benton and Linn Counties, Ore. He has a BA degree in socio-cultural anthropology from the University of Chile and master’s and doctoral degrees in applied anthropology from the University of South Florida. In addition to his work in the nonprofit sector, he holds adjunct teaching appointments at Oregon State University (OSU) College of Public Health & Human Services and the School of Language, Culture and Society, where he teaches courses in grant writing and program evaluation, and at the Pacific University Master of Nonprofit Leadership program. Dr. Contreras is a principal investigator in community and applied research projects funded by organizations such as the Oregon Community Foundation, Oregon Humanities, Benton Community Foundation, and Oregon Health Authority. Additionally, he participates in local, regional, and state collaboratives working towards equity and inclusion, including the Linn Benton Health Equity Alliance and the “Transforming Academia for Equity” project at OSU, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 

He teaches NL 550 Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement in the Pacific MNL program.