About

Rodrigo Lazo is an Associate Professor of Literature and the Associate Dean of Humanities at UC Santa Cruz, affiliated with the Latin American & Latino Studies and Spanish Studies departments. Born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and raised in Los Angeles, he attended Hollywood High School, served as editor of the school newspaper, and was senior class president. He completed his undergraduate studies in history at Occidental College, earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, and obtained an MA and PhD in English from the University of Maryland. His academic career began at Miami University in Ohio, followed by a long tenure at the University of California, Irvine, where he served as Interim Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion before moving to UC Santa Cruz in fall 2023. At UCSC, he teaches courses in English and Spanish and works as Director of Hispanic Serving Research Initiatives. Lazo is a scholar of American literature broadly conceived across the Americas, with specialties in the nineteenth century, print culture, and archival studies. His research focuses on writers who cross the Americas and explore new ways to publish and circulate their writing, often with the goal of enacting social and political transformation. His work engages with migration studies, Latin American Studies, Latino/a/x/e studies, and US literary history, examining figures such as José Martí, Herman Melville, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, and Vicente Rocafuerte. His most recent book, 'Letters from Filadelfia: Early Latino Literature and the Trans-American Elite,' received the award for best book in Early American Literature in 2022. He has edited special journal issues and is a general editor of The Broadview Anthology of American Literature. His current projects include a book-length study on Spanish-language newspapers in 19th-century the United States and several articles on topics such as US torture cultures, bilingual print practices, and Latin American literary figures. Lazo teaches courses in US and Latin American literature, print culture, and migration, and is actively involved in graduate mentoring.

Awards & honors

• Best Book in Early American Literature - Letters from Filade…
• Faculty Mentoring Award, Associated Graduate Students of UC…
• Historical Society of Pennsylvania/ Balch Institute research…
• National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (2001-2002)
• Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage research grant…

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