Student Profile: Nino Rodriguez, PhD, PAC’25, PWC’25, MPP Class of 2027

Chicago native Nino Rodriguez, PhD, PAC’25, PWC’25, and MPP class of 2027, describes himself as “a scholar-practitioner committed to improving the well-being of marginalized males (boys, men, and male-identifying individuals) to aid our pursuits of self-actualization.”  

Rodriguez, who earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, credits an internship he completed while an undergraduate for setting him on his current path. 

“My BA is in sports management, and we had to do an internship before we graduated. I had to choose between interning for the Cubs or the local Boys and Girls Club in Champaign, and the choice was easy: I'm a White Sox fan—I could never wear Cubs gear.” 

While at the Boys and Girls Club, Rodriguez co-led after-school programming for teens. “Working with the teen males drove me to pursue my master’s and doctorate due to them   challenging my understanding of identity—specifically manhood and masculinity.”  

Rodriguez’s MA and PhD are in education policy, organization, and leadership, with a concentration in the social and cultural studies of education. “During my master’s and doctoral programs, I was able to expand my understanding of Black males’ identity development as well as develop as an interdisciplinary scholar and a culturally responsive evaluator.”

After earning his doctorate, Rodriguez worked as the Chief Impact Officer for The Excellence Project in Austin, TX, which focused on breaking the school-to-prison pipeline, then moved to Seattle, WA, to serve as the inaugural Program Director for Mentoring Urban Students & Teens (M.U.S.T.). “Although I truly enjoyed the work at M.U.S.T., I found myself missing home. I moved back to Chicago after about a year to continue my work in the city that made me. Subsequently, I was a teaching fellow at DePaul University before joining UIC as a research fellow.”  

According to Rodriguez, these experiences sparked his curiosity about how policy shapes people’s lived experiences. “I saw that public policy has historically harmed marginalized males, so I chose to study it to learn how to shape policy with us in mind to help eliminate systemic barriers.” 

When planning his next step, Rodriguez said he “did a lot of recon” at Harris before applying to the MPP program. “I'm trained as a qualitative scholar, and Harris teaches skills that I didn't have—primarily, an in-depth understanding of public policy and quantitative skills. Harris seemed the ideal space for me to maximize my time in becoming a more effective—and efficient—scholar practitioner.”  

To prepare himself for the MPP, Rodriguez decided to enroll in the Policy Analytics Credential* and the Persuasive Writing Credential. 

“Both programs put me in a position where I was able to start the master’s program strong. The PAC faculty and TA's were incredibly helpful, and some of the program material was incorporated in Jumpstart and Math & Coding Camp, which was very helpful when it came to understanding some of the math components. PAC definitely gave me a good place to plant my feet.” 

As for PWC, Rodriguez said, “I loved every moment of it. David Chrisinger is a phenomenal instructor. He provided so many valuable tips, insights, and perspectives on writing more effectively and thoughtfully. I'm honestly still mulling them and trying to put them into practice! The skills I gained in PWC are going to do wonders for me—during my time at Harris and beyond.” 

When asked what he sees next for himself, Rodriguez said, “I hope to address systemic inequalities for everybody. Although my work may focus specifically on marginalized males, I'm not thinking about ‘us’ at the expense of ‘others’ because we are all intertwined.” 

*PAC has been paused for the 2025-26 academic year.