Assistant Professor Juan Carrillo has been named the 2014 recipient of the Chiron Award, an award bestowed by student groups at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to recognize excellence in teaching and devotion to students.
Carrillo joined the faculty at the School of Education in 2011. A native of the barrios of South Los Angeles and the son of Mexican immigrants, Carrillo has pursued research and writing about Latino male youth, exploring the trajectories of their schooling and working to uncover factors that contribute to their academic success.
A committee of undergraduate students representing a range of student groups selected Carrillo for the award. The committee said it chose Carrillo for his teaching excellence and his willingness to help students, both inside and outside the classroom.
Carrillo’s background includes experiences as a high school teacher in low-income neighborhood schools, chair of a high school social studies department, teacher mentor and lead positions in curriculum design.
Carrillo earned his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin. His dissertation, “So Far From Home: Portraits of Mexican-Origin Scholarship Boys,” was awarded the Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship for Research Related to Education.
He is serving as a co-principal investigator in the evaluation of the Blue Ribbon Mentor Advocate program within Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, focusing on the impact of mentoring relationships on Latino male students.
As part of the award, Carrillo will give a public lecture, which will be followed by a reception. The event is expected to take place in April. Also, a donation will be made to the charity of his choice.