R'Excellence

R’Excellence: How Bold Hearts and Brilliant Minds are Made (UGRD 010) is a uniquely conceptualized course designed to be delivered to an in-person UCR student population. The vision for this course is to introduce our students to UCR’s dynamic faculty, their areas of expertise and research, and to demonstrate that pursuing a degree at an R1 institution means to actively engage in a vibrant research community with world-class experts and cutting-edge research. R'Excellence is a one credit course that will be held weekly on Wednesdays from 7 - 7:50 p.m. Sign up using the following CRN: 76247.

In part, the goals of the course are to:

Expose students across UCR to a notable and interdisciplinary group of UCR faculty members.
Provide opportunities for students to reflect upon their learning experiences in the course in order to explore what it means to become an expert.
Develop a community of engaged learners who recognize themselves as emerging student-scholars in a Research intensive university.

Dr. Louie Rodriguez

Vice Provost Dean of Undergraduate Education

Dr. Rodriguez

Dr. Louie F. Rodriguez is the Vice Provost and Dean of the Division of Undergraduate Education at the University of California, Riverside (UCR). He is also a Professor of Education in the UCR School of Education and held the Bank of America Endowed Chair in Education Leadership, Policy, and Practice in the UCR School of Education. Originally from the Inland Empire, he attended San Bernardino Valley College, California State University, San Bernardino where he became a McNair Scholar, and Harvard University for graduate school where he earned two master’s degrees and a doctorate in Administration, Planning and Social Policy. His research focuses on issues of educational equity, Latina/o/x/ education, and community engagement.

Dr. Xóchitl C. Chávez

Associate Professor, Department of Music

Dr. Chávez

The first tenured Chicana in any UC music program. She holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from UC Santa Cruz with interdisciplinary training in Museum Studies, Ethnomusicology, and Folklore.
As an activist scholar, musician, and dancer, Dr. Chávez researches collaborative practices while documenting the ways Mexican Indigenous migrants and Latinos maintain cultural traditions across borders. Her forthcoming book, La Guelaguetza: Oaxacan Migrant Festivals and the Making of Transborder Indigeneity (Oxford, 2025), represents the first transborder ethnography of its kind, based on eight years of fieldwork.
Dr. Chávez has secured NEH funding as co-investigator for "Soundscapes of the People" and received recognition from the Smithsonian and Mexican Consulate. She serves as President of the Latin American and Caribbean Section for the Society for Ethnomusicology and is a founding member of Armonía, which advances Latino music education. She currently serves as a curatorial researcher for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino and is a member of the National Advisory Board with The Cheech Museum.

Dr. Rich Yueh

Assistant Professor of Teaching in Information Systems

Dr. Yueh

Dr. Rich Yueh is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in Information Systems in the School of Business. His work explores how technology, creativity, and design can make learning more meaningful in an AI-augmented world. He blends technical fluency with human-centered teaching, creating courses and programs that empower students to think critically and act creatively. His teaching has been recognized with multiple student- and faculty-nominated honors, including the Shulman Endowed Excellence in Teaching Award, the Academy of Distinguished Teaching Innovative Teaching Award, and several Golden Apple Teaching Awards.

Dr. Raquel M. Rall

Associate Professor Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives Co-Chair, UC Black Administrator's Council Chair, UC Online Advisory Council

Dr. Rall

Raquel M. Rall is an associate professor and associate dean of strategic initiatives in the School of Education at the University of California, Riverside. Before her appointment at UCR, she was a UC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Research Professor at the University of Southern California (USC). She has a Ph.D. in education policy from USC and degrees in Human Biology and African and African American Studies from Stanford. Her research centers postsecondary leadership and governance. Rall is a national expert on higher education governance whose work on decision-making and equity is advancing higher education in novel ways. Rall is the co-founder and co-director of the Center for Strategic & Inclusive Governance which is co-housed at UCR and the University of Michigan.