Gabriel Rodriguez

Ph.D., Educational Policy Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2018

MA, Political Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009

BA, Political Science and Speech Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007

Gabriel Rodriguez (he/him) is an assistant professor in the Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He received his Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from UIUC in 2018. His research and teaching are motivated by a concern for educational justice. Rodriguez’s interdisciplinary research interests lay at the intersection of urban and suburban education, critical race studies, critical youth studies, education policy, and teacher activism. His scholarship has two areas of focus. The first centers on learning from high school youth of color and how race, space, and place shapes their identities, sense of belonging, and activism in demographically changing [sub]urban schools and communities. The second focuses on teachers of color in urban schools and how they advocate for educational justice and organize against market-based reforms. His qualitative research draws from anthropological and sociological perspectives. Rodriguez has published articles in journals such as Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Equity & Excellence in Education, Race Ethnicity and Education, Urban Review, Journal of Latinos and Education, and Berkeley Review of Education. He is the recipient of a National Academy of Education Spencer Dissertation Fellowship (2017) and most recently was an American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education Faculty Fellow (2022).