The Future of Education
Pricila Rodriguez
Institution: University of California San Diego
Address: 2305 C St Apt 3
Postal Code: 92102
Country: United States
Immigration, incarceration, and education have profoundly influenced Pricila’s life, research interests and has oriented her career development. She is currently the Program Coordinator for the Undocumented Student Services (USS), at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). In her role, she oversees the PACE Fellowship Programs which allows AB 540/CA Dream Act undergraduate students to participate in an experiential learning opportunity (ELO) that integrates mentorship, professional and academic development with financial support.
The program focuses on preparing students for life after college, whether it's in graduate school or embarking on their career. She creates and runs workshops that cater academic, professional development and personal growth for undergraduate students. She also provides one-on-one consolations for PACE undergraduate students which allows for a more precise catering to students needs that not only fosters their retention and graduation from UCSD, but enables them to transition and be successful in diverse and global communities.
Pricila’s effective adaptability within the USS had been made possible by her extensive experiences facilitating transitional development between high school and higher education for marginalized students. Her development as a scholar and teacher began as a student and then a coordinator for the now-(in)famous and dismantled Social Justice Education Project (SJEP) while attending the University of Arizona as an undergraduate student. SJEP was integrated into the Tucson Unified School District and was specifically housed in low-income high schools that mainly serviced youth of color. As a coordinator, she prioritized mentoring high school students because it centered the realities of youth as they navigated their school settings. For many youth of color, schools can be a hostile environment where discipline takes center stage rather than education. Acknowledging lived experiences of education fosters confidence in youth, which enables them to trust their understanding of the world and develop knowledge that suits their needs as they move forward in their lives. Her approach to pedagogy was cultivated by these teaching experiences.
Pricila’s Doctoral research in the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), carried and developed this pedagogical approach over the course of five years as a teaching assistant for the Dimensions of Culture (DOC) Writing Program at UCSD. She also worked as with the College Corps Program housed under the ChangeMaker Institute, housed at UCSD. She mentored first-generation, transfer students and undocumented students in the program and bridged students to financial, academic and professionalization services across the university campus.
Pricila’s research intervenes in both Ethnic Studies and Education scholarship by de-centering emphasis found in both disciplines on economic and other resources inequalities for understanding student experiences and outcomes. This approach exposes racial disparities within education as the intended and necessary outcome of compulsory schooling because it is an on-going nation building project with the intent to produce race and racial hierarchies in the U.S. Her research calls attention to the legacies of Slavery and Indigenous genocide as foundational to the development of schooling in the US, arguing that race does not impact schooling, but rather schooling is a race-making project in and of itself. To better address the racial disparities that continue to plague the education system, these legacies must first be contended with in order to make the promise of education, and its opportunities, available to all.
Areas of expertise: History of compulsory schooling in the U.S., Critical Race Theory in Education, Marxist frameworks of education, youth-participatory action theory and practice, Afropessimism and Settler Colonialism
The program focuses on preparing students for life after college, whether it's in graduate school or embarking on their career. She creates and runs workshops that cater academic, professional development and personal growth for undergraduate students. She also provides one-on-one consolations for PACE undergraduate students which allows for a more precise catering to students needs that not only fosters their retention and graduation from UCSD, but enables them to transition and be successful in diverse and global communities.
Pricila’s effective adaptability within the USS had been made possible by her extensive experiences facilitating transitional development between high school and higher education for marginalized students. Her development as a scholar and teacher began as a student and then a coordinator for the now-(in)famous and dismantled Social Justice Education Project (SJEP) while attending the University of Arizona as an undergraduate student. SJEP was integrated into the Tucson Unified School District and was specifically housed in low-income high schools that mainly serviced youth of color. As a coordinator, she prioritized mentoring high school students because it centered the realities of youth as they navigated their school settings. For many youth of color, schools can be a hostile environment where discipline takes center stage rather than education. Acknowledging lived experiences of education fosters confidence in youth, which enables them to trust their understanding of the world and develop knowledge that suits their needs as they move forward in their lives. Her approach to pedagogy was cultivated by these teaching experiences.
Pricila’s Doctoral research in the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), carried and developed this pedagogical approach over the course of five years as a teaching assistant for the Dimensions of Culture (DOC) Writing Program at UCSD. She also worked as with the College Corps Program housed under the ChangeMaker Institute, housed at UCSD. She mentored first-generation, transfer students and undocumented students in the program and bridged students to financial, academic and professionalization services across the university campus.
Pricila’s research intervenes in both Ethnic Studies and Education scholarship by de-centering emphasis found in both disciplines on economic and other resources inequalities for understanding student experiences and outcomes. This approach exposes racial disparities within education as the intended and necessary outcome of compulsory schooling because it is an on-going nation building project with the intent to produce race and racial hierarchies in the U.S. Her research calls attention to the legacies of Slavery and Indigenous genocide as foundational to the development of schooling in the US, arguing that race does not impact schooling, but rather schooling is a race-making project in and of itself. To better address the racial disparities that continue to plague the education system, these legacies must first be contended with in order to make the promise of education, and its opportunities, available to all.
Areas of expertise: History of compulsory schooling in the U.S., Critical Race Theory in Education, Marxist frameworks of education, youth-participatory action theory and practice, Afropessimism and Settler Colonialism
