Luis Ricardo Fraga
Luis Ricardo Fraga is the Rev. Donald P. McNeill, C.S.C., Professor of Transformative Latino Leadership, Joseph and Elizabeth Robbie Professor of Political Science, director of the Institute for Latino Studies, and fellow at the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame. He has been on the faculty at the University of Washington, Stanford University, and the University of Oklahoma. He is a native of Corpus Christi, Texas.
He received his A.B., cum laude, from Harvard University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Rice University. His primary interests are in American politics where he specializes in the politics of race and ethnicity, Latino politics, immigration policy, education politics, voting rights policy, and urban politics. His most recent co-authored book is Latinos in the New Millennium: An Almanac of Opinion, Behavior, and Policy Preferences (Cambridge University Press 2012). He has two other recent books: the co-authored Latino Lives in America: Making It Home (Temple University Press 2010) and United States Government: Principles in Practice (Holt McDougal 2010), a high school textbook. He has also published the co-authored book Multiethnic Moments: The Politics of Urban Education Reform (Temple University Press 2006). He was a member of the APSA standing committee on civic engagement and education that co-authored Democracy at Risk: How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation, and What We Can Do About It (Brookings Institution Press 2005). He is also co-editor of Ethnic and Racial Minorities in Advanced Industrial Democracies (Greenwood 1992). He has published extensively in scholarly journals and edited volumes including the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, Perspectives on Politics, The Journal of Politics, Urban Affairs Quarterly, Western Political Quarterly, Dubois Review, Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, and the Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy. He is completing the co-authored manuscript Invisible No More: Latino Identities in American Politics as well as America at Its Best: The 1975 Expansion and Extension of the Voting Rights Act.
In 2011, President Barack Obama appointed him to the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics where he also serves as co-chair of the postsecondary education subcommittee. In 2011, Hispanic Business named him one of the top “100 Influentials” in the U.S. In 2013, Seattle Mayor Michael McGinn appointed him to the Immigrant Voting Rights Task Force where he served as co-chair. In 2008 he was appointed by Governor Christine Gregoire to serve on Washington’s New Americans Policy Council.
He is a past vice-president of the American Political Science Association (APSA). He was also co-chair of the Presidential Task Force on Political Science in the 21st Century of the APSA. He was secretary of the APSA in 2006-07. He served on the executive council of the APSA in 1998-2000. He served as president of the Western Political Science Association in 1997-98.
In 2003-04 he was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, and in 1989-90 he was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University.
Fraga has received a number of teaching, advising, mentoring, and service awards at Stanford including the Rhodes Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (1993), the Dinkelspiel Award for Distinctive Contributions to Undergraduate Education (1995), the Allan V. Cox Medal for Faculty Excellence Fostering Undergraduate Research (1997), the Faculty Award from the Chicano/Latino Graduating Class (1993, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001), the Undergraduate Faculty Advisor of the Year Award (2001), and the Associated Students of Stanford University Teaching Award (2003). He has also received the Adaljiza Sosa-Riddell Award for Exemplary Mentoring of Graduate Latina/o Students by the Committee on the Status of Latinos in the Profession of the American Political Science Association (2001) and this same award for mentoring junior faculty (2004). In 2010 he received an award from the Graduate School of the University of Washington for exemplary advocacy and leadership on behalf of graduate education. He was recognized as one of the Champions of Catholic Education in 2012 for his work to establish the first Spanish-English, two-way immersion school in the Seattle Archdiocese, the Juan Diego Academy at Holy Rosary School in Tacoma, WA. In 2013 he was the first recipient of the Juan Diego Award. In 2017, he received the Distinguished Career Award from the Latino Caucus of the Midwest Political Science Association. Also in that year, he was recognized by Notre Dame as one of the inaugural members of the All-Faculty Team for his leadership and contributions to Notre Dame. In 2018, he received the Lifetime Achievement for Excellence in Community Service Award from the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF).
