Atlanta Global Studies Center Names New Co-Director

Posted October 1, 2021

Ivan Allen College’s Atlanta Global Studies Center (AGSC) has announced its new faculty co-director. Juan Carlos Rodríguez, associate professor of Spanish in the School of Modern Languages, has been selected to co-lead the interdisciplinary center that focuses on the study of languages and cultures.

Rodríguez will serve a three-year term, in collaboration with Georgia State University, to oversee the center’s Title VI National Resource Center grant from the U.S. Department of Education as well as develop intellectual scholarship, academic programming, and community awareness of global studies, international education, and advanced language learning with partner institutions.

“Atlanta is without a doubt a global city — a city of connections, distinguished by its leading role in the civil rights movement and the production of global media,” Rodríguez said. “In the coming years, the Atlanta Global Studies Center must continue to serve as a platform to honor our city’s legacies, our commitment to strengthen international networks and immigrant communities.”

Rodríguez has supported the center in several roles in past years, including serving on the Foreign Language and Area Studies grants faculty committee, partnering as director of the Global Media Festival, and speaking at various AGSC events including the Collaboratorium and the annual symposium.

Rodríguez has taught in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts since 2008, most recently serving as the graduate studies director for the School of Modern Languages. He previously served as a visiting lecturer in Rice University’s Department of Hispanic Studies.

His research interests focus on contemporary urban issues of Latin American cities represented in documentaries. He is also co-editor of two books, “New Documentaries in Latin America” and “Digital Humanities in Latin America,” and a book series entitled “Reframing Media Technology and Culture in Latino America.”

Rodríguez is the 2004 winner of Puerto Rico’s Olga Nolla Poetry Award. He earned a 2015 National Poetry Award honorable mention from the Puerto Rican Culture Institute for his poetry book “Campo Minado.”

“I am excited that Dr. Rodríguez accepted our offer to take on this position as co-director of the AGSC,” shared Dr. David Shook, interim chair of the School of Modern Languages.  “It is important for our School and the IAC to have one of our faculty members involved in this service. Dr. Rodríguez has expressed some exciting ideas about where to take the Center in the next three years, and I believe that he will lead to create some excellent opportunities for Georgia Tech faculty and students as a part of the collaborative efforts of the AGSC.” 

Established in 2018, the Atlanta Global Studies Center is a collaborative between Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia State University that builds international awareness, global competence, and advanced language capacity in higher education, the private and public sector, and the K-12 community to empower the region’s global agenda.