Nancy Rodriguez is Director of the Latino Research Institute at the University of Texas at Austin and Professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, Government (Affiliate), and Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs (Courtesy Appointment). Her research focuses on inequality (race/ethnicity, class, crime and justice) and the collateral consequences of mass incarceration. Throughout her career, Dr. Rodriguez has engaged in use-inspired research and has been part of many successful collaborations with policy makers. She has led research partnerships with localities (e.g., Maricopa County, Arizona, Harris County, Texas), state agencies (e.g., Arizona Supreme Court, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Massachusetts Department of Correction, and Oregon Department of Corrections), and community organizations (e.g., West Coast Credible Messengers). She has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on projects totaling more than $11 million in external funding from a variety of federal, state, and private grant-making institutions, including the U.S. National Institute of Justice, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Arnold Ventures.
In October 2014, Dr. Rodriguez was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the Director of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the scientific research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice. As Director of NIJ, she led the development of the agency’s first strategic research plans in the areas of 1) corrections, safety, health, and wellness and 2) policing. During her tenure at NIJ, she worked with federal partners to address gaps in crime and justice research.
She is the author of several books (Images of Color, Images of Crime, 2006, Oxford University Press; Dreams and Nightmares: Immigration Policy, Youth and Families, 2014, University of California Press; Children of Incarcerated Parents: Integrating Research into Best Practices and Policy, 2022, Springer Publisher) and her work has appeared in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including Criminology, American Journal of Preventative Medicine, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Justice Quarterly, Crime & Delinquency, and the ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
She is an elected Fellow of the American Society of Criminology and recipient of various awards for her contributions to the field of criminology, including the Bruce Smith, Sr. Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Julius Debro Award from the Division on People of Color and Crime of the American Society of Criminology. She has served on two National Academy of Science’s Committees (Strengthening the U.S. Medicolegal Death Investigation System: Lesson from Death in Custody and Reducing Racial Inequality in the Criminal Justice System) and is dedicated to expanding the use of
science in policy and practice.