I am pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Rodrigo Lazo as our interim vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion, effective November 1. In this role, he will lead our comprehensive effort to establish UCI as a national leader and global model of inclusive excellence. At the core of this aspiration is a campus community where all expect equity, support diversity, practice inclusion and honor free speech.
Dr. Lazo is a professor in the Department of English, with concurrent appointments in the departments of Comparative Literature and Spanish and Portuguese. He is a nationally recognized scholar of American literature, broadly conceived across the Americas, and is an elected president of two societies in the field. His research focuses on writers and texts that are concerned with migration, movement, geographic displacement, and communication across distance. In 2021, his book Letters from Filadelfia: Early Latino Literature and the Trans-American Elite won the award for best book in Early American Literature. He earned his undergraduate degree in history at Occidental College, a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University, and a master’s degree and doctorate in English at the University of Maryland.
Dr. Lazo’s service to the university is significant and distinguished. He has served as the associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion in the Graduate Division since 2020, and has twice served as equity advisor in the School of Humanities. He has also served as acting dean and associate dean of undergraduate study in the School of Humanities; director of the Humanities Core Program, director of the International Center for Writing and Translation, and acting director of the Global Cultures Program.
Dr. Lazo will carry forward the important work of the Office of Inclusive Excellence as we conduct a national search for the next vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Lazo on his new role at UCI.
Fiat Lux.
Chancellor Howard Gillman