California State University, Long Beach
Chicano & Latino Studies Department

1250 Bellflower Blvd.
Tel. (562) 985-4644
Fax (562) 985.4631

E-Mail:  Luis.Rodriguez@csulb.edu

Dr. Luis Carlos Rodriguez spent his early years in Acatlán de Juarez, a small town south of Guadalajara in the Mexican state of Jalisco, migrating at a young age with his mother and younger brother to Southern California. His research, teaching interests, and pedagogy are influenced by his transnational, bilingual, and bicultural immigrant experience as well as being a first-generation college student.

Dr. Rodriguez, studied at the University of Southern California where he earned four degrees: a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Arts from the Roski School of Art and Design, and a Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. in American Studies and Ethnicity from the Dornsife College of Letters Arts and Sciences. His fields of expertise include Race, Gender, Ethnicity, Immigration History & Policy, Chicanx and Latinx Literature, Chicanx and Latinx History, Chicanx and Latinx Popular Culture and Globalization. He joined the department of Chicanx and Latinx Studies in 2018 and has also taught coursework for the Department of International Studies and the College of Professional and International Education.

Prior to joining CSULB, Dr. Rodriguez has taught at his alma mater, worked as a Community Organizer for The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) Local 11, served as an Immigration Reform Advocate for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor’s Coalition for Immigration Reform, Co-Founded the Immigrant and Workers’ Rights Social Justice group: JusTo: Just Tourism, has volunteered with the Coalition for Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), worked on several theatrical productions with The Latino Theater Company and performance art pieces with his “Guerilla Theater” troupe Los Undocumented, and was a disc jockey in Southern California night clubs. His writings have appeared in Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies, LatinoLA.com, and his former alternative student news magazine column The Mex Files. His current project looks at Japanese and Mexican American interracial friendships in the roots of
Chicano Cinema and Popular Culture in mid-20th Century, Los Angeles.

Dr. Rodrguez enjoys hiking, popular cinema, and USC Trojan Football games. As an avid fan of Dodgers Baseball, he has rooted for “The Azul” since Fernando Valenzuela controlled the mound for the “Boys in Blue!”