Carlos Vargas-Ramos is the Center for Puerto Rican Studies’ Director for Public Policy, External and Media Relations, and Development. As social scientist, he has worked on the impact of migration on Puerto Rican political behavior, political attitudes and orientations, as well as on issues of racial identity. A political scientist by training, Dr. Vargas-Ramos is co-editor, along with Edwin Meléndez, Puerto Ricans at the Dawn of the New Millennium published by the Center for Puerto Rican Studies in 2014. He also co-edited with Anthony Stevens-Arroyo, Blessing La Política: The Latino Religious Experience and Political Engagement in the United States published by Praeger in 2012. His newest work — Race, Front and Center: Perspectives on Race among Puerto Ricans (2017)— a reader on the subject of race, based on a selection of articles in the holdings of Centro: The Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, is available from the Center for Puerto Rican Studies.
Among his recent peer-reviewed articles are “Puerto Ricans: Citizens and Migrants— A Cautionary Tale” which appeared in Identities: Global Studies in Identity and Power, 20(6): 665-688, (2013), and “Migrating race: migration and racial identification among Puerto Ricans,” was published in Ethnic and Racial Studies. 37(3): 383-404 (2014).
Dr. Vargas-Ramos joined CENTRO as a researcher in public policy in 2001, charged with initiating CENTRO’s policy papers and reports series. As coordinator of CENTRO’s Data Center, Carlos has co-edited the recently published State of Puerto Ricans, 2017 and Almanac of Puerto Ricans in the United States, 2016.
He received his B.A. in Political Science and Economics from Rutgers University. He also holds an M.A. in Hispanic Civilization from New York University, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University. Prior to joining the Centro’s staff, Dr. Vargas-Ramos was a legislative aide in the New York City Council. He has also worked as a research assistant at the Barnard/Columbia Center for Urban Policy and Research as well as an enumerator and manager for the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
