An assistant professor in the Department of Politics at Ithaca College鈥檚 School of Humanities and Sciences, Figueroa can discuss U.S. political issues, including presidential leadership, racial, religious and working class politics, U.S.-Puerto Rico policy, and immigration/border politics.

Figueroa鈥檚 academic research focuses on American political development; race, religion and citizenship; Black American politics and political thought; Latino politics and border studies; public leadership; and U.S. Quakers. He is currently finishing a book on Quakers, race and U.S. Empire. His research also focuses on Bayard Rustin, a Black, gay, Quaker labor and civil rights activist of the 1940s through 1980s. He is also working on a project about the everyday 鈥渓ived experiences鈥� of people who study and/or work near the U.S.-Mexico border.