In 2012, Marcelo Suárez-Orozco became dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Education; previously, he was a professor of education at New York and Harvard universities. Before participating in a panel on what immigration reform might mean for Los Angeles, he talked about his Type A personality, his empty refrigerator door, and his love of empanadas in the Zócalo green room.
What would you order for your last meal?
Empanadas.
What’s your favorite spot in Los Angeles?
There is a little Korean joint off Wilshire in Koreatown that is fabulous. [That could be any number of joints.] I can’t remember—Wilshire at Mariposa, maybe? Around there?
What teacher or professor changed your life, if any?
George De Vos at UC Berkeley. He fundamentally altered how I think about education in our country. And Howard Gardner is the second scholar who changed my life, my colleague at Harvard for many years.
Did you have any nicknames as a kid?
Sapo.
What’s hanging on your refrigerator?
Nothing. It’s a brand-new refrigerator, and on the new refrigerators the magnets don’t work, so I’m searching for a way to put something on it.
What’s your biggest weakness?
Gluttony.
How do you pass the time when you’re stuck in traffic?
Oy vey! Where to start? I’m a Type A, I’m used to the A/C [train] from Brooklyn to the Village, so this is taking immense training.
How do you procrastinate?
I don’t have time to procrastinate.
What word or phrase do you use most often?
“It’s complicated.”