Louie F. Rodriguez, Ed.D. University of California, Riverside Graduate School of Education Assoc. Prof.

Dr. Louie F. Rodríguez joined the faculty at University of California, Riverside in 2016 and is an associate professor in Educational Policy Analysis and Leadership and Education, Society, and Culture. He earned his doctorate in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2005. Over the last 10 years he has led several research initiatives including The PRAXIS Project, a school/community-based initiative aimed at understanding student engagement and disengagement from the student perspective. From this work he developed a 10-Point Plan and published his second book, The Time is Now: Understanding and Responding to the Black and Latina/o Dropout Crisis in the U.S. Over the last several years he has also spent time collaborating with schools and districts to implement many of the lessons learned from this research.

From his research, he has also published two other books Small Schools and Urban Youth (with Gil Conchas) (2007) and Intentional Excellence: The Pedagogy, Power, and Politics of Excellence in Latina/o Schools and Communities(2015). Intentional Excellence chronicles collaborative work that focuses on the power, pedagogy, and politics of excellence within the urban school and community context. In this book he proposed a Pedagogy of Excellence for educators, researchers, and policymakers to consider as they develop opportunities for and with the Latina/o community specifically. In addition to books, he has also published in several peer-reviewed journal articles, such as Equity and Excellence in Education, Educational Policy, The Urban Review, Education and Urban Society, and Teachers College Record. He has also published blogs and practitioner-oriented articles about Latinas/os in education, student engagement, and educational policy issues.

Born and raised in Southern California (the Inland Empire), Dr. Rodriguez began his journey in higher education at San Bernardino Valley College and with the support of mentors and meaningful academic opportunities, transferred to CSU, San Bernardino. As a college student at CSU, San Bernardino he became a McNair Scholar and became passionate about using research to understand and transform educational opportunities for historically marginalized students. After completing a summer research internship at Harvard, he applied and was admitted to the Harvard Graduate School of Education. After serving as a middle-school counselor/intervention specialist and later a high school math teacher, he completed two master’s degrees and a doctorate in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University.

Prior to UCR, he was an associate professor in Educational Leadership and Technology and Co-Director of the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) and was also on the faculty at Florida International University in Miami for three years.

In 2015 he was named Outstanding Latino Faculty by the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) and an “Emerging Leader” designation in 2014 by Phi Delta Kappa International in Washington, DC. In 2013 Dr. Rodriguez was named Outstanding Professor of the Year for Research in the College of Education at CSU, San Bernardino. In 2012 he was selected as a Fellow for the Executive Leadership Academy at UC Berkeley and also as a Kika De La Garza Education Fellow with the United States Department of Agriculture. In 2011 he received a Person of Distinction award by San Bernardino Valley College and was a Faculty Fellow for the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education. In 2010, he was the recipient of the 30 Under 35 Award for Latinas/os and Native Americans for his service to the community by California State Assembly Member Wilmer Amina Carter and received special recognition from Assembly Member Manuel Perez for this service to the 62nd assembly district in California. He is the past Co-Chair of the Faculty Fellows Program for the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE). He is a frequently invited speaker to address student engagement and educational equity issues for schools, districts, and communities.

His research centers on urban schooling and typically focuses on three keys areas: 1) students’ voices and experiences in the school and community context, 2) critical ways to understand and use school culture to boost student engagement, particularly among Latina/o and other youth of color, 3) and engaging educational communities in institutional and community excellence. His work privileges a qualitative paradigm and focuses on engaging and understanding the voices and experiences of the people. Specifically, he uses participatory and community-centered methodologies to engage with research. The goal of this work is to shape educational policy and practice at the local and national levels.