Rate My Professor Cesar Rodriguez

Cesar Rodriguez, Ph.D., served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at California State University, San Marcos. He completed his graduate training in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he studied globalization through political economy, mass incarceration through history and geography, and culture through Chicana/o Studies and Black Studies. His expertise includes cutting-edge qualitative research methods such as photovoice. Rodriguez's research focuses on Oakland, California, investigating immigration, the link between struggling schools and the incarceration of youth of color known as the school-to-prison pipeline, and the Oscar Grant moment of resistance in 2009. More broadly, his work examines the prison and the border as prominent racial regimes in the United States. Originally from Daly City and South San Francisco, he has drawn on diverse disciplinary influences including supervisors William I. Robinson, Victor M. Rios, Clyde A. Woods, Rodolfo D. Torres, and Roberto D. Hernandez.

In his teaching, Rodriguez worked with diverse student populations using critical perspectives, incorporating empirical case studies, creative writing, video documentaries, visual art, music, investigative journalism, and advocacy group reports to foster robust analytics for reading the social world. His experience spans serving as a graduate student instructor at UCSB, tutor and program coordinator at community colleges, and mentor for undergraduate students of color through the TRiO Student Support Services program and campus organizations. Dedicated to diversifying higher education, he contributed to pipeline programs and organized events hosting guest speakers from Latin America. Key publications include the co-authored Santa Barbara Campaign for Youth and Families Community Summits Report (2011, with Christian Jaimes), which gathered input from impacted communities on preventing youth violence, and Dual Crises of Globalization (2010, with Jeb Sprague), connecting the BP oil spill to Arizona's SB 1070 anti-immigrant law. Rodriguez received the Jackie McLean Fellowship in Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Hartford (2013-2014). At CSUSM, he participated in the Ethnic Studies Minor faculty list, Academic Senate activities, and facilitated discussions deconstructing racialized violence through plays in the Conversations that Matter series.