Dr. Gloria Rodriguez
Gloria M. Rodriguez is a Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy and Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs at the UC Davis School of Education. She came into the field of education through the public policy arena and has nearly 40 years of experience working in a variety of educational and public sector settings. As a scholar, her research interests have centered on educational leadership and school finance from a critical, social justice perspective. This specialization has been fortified by years of collaborative experience with educators and leaders who strive to address the needs of diverse communities by building on their strengths and embracing their aspirations. She is also concerned with the educational needs and strengths of Latina/o/x children, youth, and families, as well as communities who experience poverty, disenfranchisement, and other intersecting forms of institutional marginalization.
Within the educational arena, Dr. Rodriguez has contributed to a range of research and collaborative initiatives focused on the experiences and journeys of young people in PK-12 settings moving to and through college. She has had the good fortune of working alongside specialists in public health, medicine, social services, youth development, college preparation, and immigration to understand the complexities and possibilities of partnerships that lead to better-informed policies and practices that support and uplift youth and their communities. As a specialist in funding and resource allocation issues, it has been particularly challenging and gratifying to engage with colleagues across fields and roles to identify the resource implications of “dreaming big” with youth and their families to inform our collective efforts to realize those big dreams. Indeed, Dr. Rodriguez believes strongly in the power of multi-generational investment of time, energy, resources, love, and support to arrive at better outcomes, opportunities, and options for the people we serve through our research and leadership practices.
A third generation Chicana originally from California’s San Joaquin Valley, Dr. Rodriguez’s first teachers were her parents and brothers whose example of strong work ethics, commitment to serving others, and great love of learning provided the foundation for her continued development and formal education. She is a proud graduate and transfer student from the College of the Sequoias, where she majored in Business Administration. She continued her education at UC Santa Cruz and graduated with a B.A. in Economics, which led to the opportunity to earn a Master’s in Public Administration with an emphasis in educational policy at Columbia University. Dr. Rodriguez went on to earn a Ph.D. in Education (Program in Administration and Policy Analysis) at Stanford University. She held tenure-track academic appointments at the University of Texas, El Paso and California State University, Hayward (now East Bay) prior to joining the faculty at UC Davis.
