Gloria Rodriguez

Dr. Gloria M. Rodriguez is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Davis, where she specializes in educational finance and leadership from a critical, social justice perspective and contributes to various academic programs, including having served as a Director of the Capital Area North Doctorate in Educational Leadership (EdD) Program. She has conducted research in the areas of school finance and school leadership, with particular emphasis on the equity status of the Latina/o/x communities of the U.S. In addition, Dr. Rodriguez has enjoyed mentoring junior colleagues and graduate and undergraduate students of color involved in Education, Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x Studies, Ethnic Studies, and the social sciences throughout her career of over twenty years as an educator and researcher. Among her most rewarding efforts as a scholar have been her collaborations with Latina/o/x and other scholars of color on projects ranging from K-12 educational equity issues, the role of parents in supporting the educational success and well-being of their children, the college choice and transitions of students of color, community college leadership, the use of testimonios to document the educational experiences and leadership practices of Latina/o/xs in the U.S., and the role of regional policy and social service initiatives in supporting the well-being of youth in northern California. Dr. Rodriguez's first teachers were her parents and brothers, who worked for years in the fields of California's San Joaquin Valley and who have never wavered in their belief in education and social justice. Because of their support, she is also a proud graduate of a California Community College, the College of the Sequoias (AS in Business Administration) and transferred to the UC Santa Cruz (BA in Economics). She went on to earn an MPA with an emphasis in educational policy from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and a PhD in Education with an emphasis in Administration and Policy Analysis from Stanford University. Prior to pursuing an academic career, Dr. Rodriguez served as a fiscal and policy analysis with California's non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office, which provides annual analyses of the Governor's Budget for state lawmakers in their deliberations. UCD is Dr. Rodriguez's third academic appointment. She has also been a tenure-track faculty member at the California State University, East Bay (when it was still known as Cal State Hayward) and began her career as an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas, El Paso. As a result, Dr. Rodriguez has had the privilege of teaching courses in her "first love" subject matter of school finance that created access to this important area of theory and practice for aspiring leaders seeking to improve the equity conditions of their local schools through the best possible deployment of resources in rural, suburban, and urban school systems. Dr. Rodriguez currently teaches courses aimed at supporting the development of dissertation research. Dr. Rodriguez is collaborating with Dr. Enrique Alemán on a school finance and leadership book that applies a Critical Race Theory lens to issues facing Latina/o/x communities in the U.S. The project will present composite counter-stories drawn from the courageous, racial realist, and racial justice rooted accounts of leaders of color whose efforts with and on behalf of their communities provide enduring lessons for us all.