Eric Manuel Rodriguez, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures (WRAC), has won a 2020 Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) Scholars for the Dream Travel Award. He is one of 20 recipients from across the country to receive this award presented by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). 

Rodriguez will be announced as a recipient of the CCCC Scholars for the Dream Travel Award on March 26 during the 2020 CCCC Annual Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

I’m honored to be recognized for the work I learned from previous Scholars for the Dream recipients. I’m glad I get to represent MSU this year. WRAC has given me the space and support to work on scholarship that I’m not sure I could do anywhere else.

“I’m honored to be recognized for the work I learned from previous Scholars for the Dream recipients,” Rodriguez said. “I’m glad I get to represent MSU this year. WRAC has given me the space and support to work on scholarship that I’m not sure I could do anywhere else.”

Rodriguez’s research is focused on Cultural Rhetorics and Chicanx rhetoric where he works to see how different cultural practices are put into writing. He currently is working with the Building Healthcare Collectives (BHC) assisting with humanities research aimed at health equity. As part of this work with the BHC, he has done grant writing, facilitate discussion groups about building interdisciplinary teams among the humanities and health services, and coordinated the BHC Symposium.

As a Ph.D. student, he has taught English and Writing classes, and most recently taught a Cultural Rhetoric class.  Rodriguez is part of the Cultural Heritage Informatics (CHI) graduate fellowship program at MSU, where grad students work together to apply different digital methods and approaches in cultural heritage.   

CCCC, which is a constituent organization within the NCTE, sponsors the Scholars for the Dream Awards to encourage scholarship by historically underrepresented groups. This includes Black, Latinx, Asian, American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or other Pacific Islander scholars — persons whose presence and whose contributions are central to the full realization of our professional goals. The awards selection committee considers originality of research, significance of pedagogical or theoretical contributions to the field, and potential for larger, subsequent projects.

Winners of the CCCC Scholars for the Dream Award receive $1,000 each and a one-year membership in NCTE and CCCC.