'Outstanding' Educator Named at Milestone Celebration

Louie F. Rodriguez, an associate professor of educational leadership and technology at Cal State San Bernardino, has been named the Outstanding Latino Faculty in Higher Education 2015 by the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education. Rodriguez, who is also the co-director of the CSUSB College of Education’s doctoral program in educational leadership, will be presented with the service/teaching award in March 2015 at AAHHE’s 10th Annual National Conference in Texas. “I'm honored to receive this recognition that is national in scope, and that focuses on my contribution to education at Cal State San Bernardino and beyond,” said Rodriguez. “It will be particularly special to be present at AAHHE’s milestone celebration to accept this award. “I also want to thank my colleagues at CSUSB for their support and my students who constantly encourage me to explore new terrain and face the practical realities impacting our students and communities across the region,” Rodriguez said. The AAHHE awards were created to celebrate and recognize the work of Hispanics in higher education and national leaders each year at the national conference. This particular award recognizes an individual who has provided outstanding service through creation or expansion of a program, innovative programming or direct work with students and/or has provided excellent instruction in a teaching-oriented institution. Rodriguez was recognized for his commitment to service and teaching at CSUSB, and for his Praxis Project, in which he and a group of high school researchers examined the school dropout issue facing the Inland Empire, primarily among Latino and African American youth. After graduating from CSUSB with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Rodriguez continued his education at Harvard University, where he earned his master’s and doctorate degrees. For many years he lived on the east coast, but returned to the Inland Empire in 2009 and began teaching at CSUSB as a professor of education. “At CSUSB, I often challenge students to engage in projects that are practical and relevant to education and leadership issues in their schools and communities across the IE,” said Rodriguez. “For example, this year I created a project that encouraged students to identify guiding principles for social justice and equity-driven leadership in the IE by sharing these principles with the stakeholders in that particular context. Then, they were to have a dialogue with the stakeholders, acquire feedback and revise their principles into a final product. This work puts the ‘public’ in public education by becoming evolving and emerging leaders and community-based intellectuals,” he said. “My research, teaching, and service is often seamless as I take cutting edge issues that I find in the field of education and bring them to my students at CSUSB,” Rodriguez said. “In fact, my research and findings directly inform my curriculum and pedagogy in my courses at CSUSB and help me stay current.” Rodriguez is now completing his third book. “Engineering Excellence: The Pedagogy, Power, and Politics of Excellence in Latina/o Schools and Communities” examines excellence in local schools and communities, and draws on several years of work that proposes a pedagogy of excellence. It is due for publication this spring. The first week in December, Rodriguez traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with top officials in the U.S. Department of Education and engaged in a series of activities from his recent recognition as an Emerging Leader by Phi Delta Kappa International.