Clara Rodríguez, Ph.D., professor of sociology at Fordham University, has been selected as one of Hispanic Businessmagazine’s 100 most influential Hispanics in the nation.

Clara Rodriguez, Ph.D. Photo by Chris Taggart

Rodríguez, former dean of Fordham College of Liberal Studies, was listed as one of the most influential Hispanics in the field of education. The magazine, which published the list in its October issue, highlights Rodríguez’s work as a consultant for the television shows Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street and notes that she has written “more than 50 articles on Hispanics in the United States and most recently co-authored Culture and Commerce of Publishing in the 21st Century.”

“I was absolutely shocked to be nominated, let alone be selected,” Rodriguez said. “It is quite an honor to be recognized in this way, but that is not why I do what I do.”

Hispanic Business has been publishing its 100 Most Influential Hispanics list since 1983. Among those recognized in the past include New Mexico governor and presidential hopeful, Bill Richardson; Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment; and Arturo Moreno, owner of the Los Angeles Angels baseball team. Included this year are New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya; America Ferrara, star of the hit television show Ugly Betty; and New York Secretary of State Lorraine Cortes-Vasquez.

This is the second honor for Rodríguez in the past few weeks. On Oct. 1, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities announced that Culture and Commerce of Publishing in the 21st Century(Stanford Business Books, 2007), which she co-authored with Fordham colleagues Al Greco, Ed.D., professor of marketing, Robert M. Wharton, Ph.D., area chair of management systems, had won a National Jesuit Book Award.