Rodney Hero Receives the 2022 Barbara Sinclair Lecture Award

The Barbara Sinclair Lecture Award is presented annually to honor achievement in promoting understanding of the U.S. Congress and legislative politics.    

Rodney Hero is the Raul Yzaguirre Chair in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University, and is also Director of the Center for Latina/os and American Politics Research (CLAPR) at ASU.

His research and teaching focus on American democracy and politics, especially as viewed through the analytical lenses of Latino Politics, Racial/Ethnic Politics, State and Urban Politics, Federalism, and Institutions.  He has (co)authored ten books.  His 2013 co-authored book, Black-Latino Relations in U.S. National Politics: Beyond Conflict or Cooperation, was chosen for the 2014 ‘Best Book on Latino Politics Award’ from the Latino Caucus of the APSA.  He has also authored and co-authored a number of articles in scholarly journals, and chapters in edited books, including in two of the recent editions of Congress Reconsidered (by Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce Oppenheimer).  Among other of his books are: Latinos and the U.S. Political System: Two-tiered Pluralism (1992); Faces of Inequality: Social Diversity in American Politics (which was selected for the APSA’s Woodrow Wilson Award in 1999); and co-author of Multi-Ethnic Moments: The Politics of Urban Education Reform (2006).  He was a co-principal investigator on the ‘Latino National Survey’ (completed in 2006).

He has also served on the editorial board of a number of major political science journals, as well as president of the APSA (2014-15) and of other professional associations.

Citation from the Award Committee:  

Professor Rodney Hero is this year’s selection for the Barbara Sinclair Lecture, given to a preeminent scholar who promotes the understanding of the U.S. Congress and legislative politics.  The selection committee noted that Professor Hero has done this in a wide variety of ways.  Hero is considered one of the most esteemed scholars of racial and ethnic politics, and has devoted a good deal of his scholarship to the representation of racial groups and interests in congressional governance in ways that have served to bridge the study of citizens and the study of political institutions.  His work on substantive and descriptive representation of Blacks and Latinos in Congress is nothing short of path breaking.  As well, his work contributed immensely to our understanding of the role that inequality plays in social and welfare policy making at the federal level.  These represent only a small portion of his immense research that spans other areas, including urban and state politics, political behavior, and elections.

Rodney is currently Raul Yzaguirre Chair in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University. He previously held faculty positions as professor of political science and the Haas Chair in Diversity and Democracy at the University of California, Berkeley (2010-17); the Packey J. Dee Professor of American Democracy in the Department of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame (2000-10); at the University of Colorado at Boulder (1989-2000); and at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (1980-87).  Hero is the recipient of many best book and paper awards, including the Ralph J. Bunche Award, the Latino Politics Best Book Award, and the Woodrow Wilson book award.  In 2007-08, Rodney served as President of the Midwest Political Science Association, and in 2014-15 he served as President of the American Political Science Association.

APSA thanks the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at the American University School of Public Affairs for its support of the award and the committee members for their service: Dr. David C. Barker, American University (Co-Chair); Megan McConaughey (Co-Chair); Dr. Scott Adler of the
University of Colorado, Boulder; Dr. Ashley English of the University of North Texas; and Dr. Kristin Kanthak of the University of Pittsburgh.