UIC historian named National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow

Ivón Padilla-Rodríguez, UIC assistant professor of history, is a recipient of the prestigious 2024 National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship.

This fellowship comes with a $70,000 grant for research and scholarship in the field of education. It is awarded to scholars whose projects address critical issues in the history, theory or practice of formal or informal education at national and international levels.

Padilla-Rodríguez plans to use the award to further her latest manuscript. Her research is rooted in longstanding commitments to immigrant communities. Currently, she is focused on how, throughout the 20th century, United States officials used law, policy and “alienage” to deprive migrant minors of the rights of childhood.

“I’m grateful for and excited about the opportunity to significantly advance progress on my book manuscript,” Padilla-Rodríguez said. “I’m also appreciative of UIC’s support of my scholarship and trajectory.”

The award underscores Padilla-Rodríguez’s contributions to education research and resonates with the National Academy of Education’s commitment to nurturing emerging scholars and advancing frontiers in education and history. She was among 25 postdoctoral fellows selected from a competitive applicant pool of 240 esteemed scholars.

Managed in collaboration with the Spencer Foundation, the fellowship fosters academic excellence and innovation in education research. With over 800 distinguished alums, many of them luminaries in education research, the fellowship stands as a beacon of intellectual inquiry and scholarly achievement.

Learn more about Padilla-Rodríguez’s fellowship on the National Academy of Education’s website.