Vice Provost Michael Rios is one of 31 international scholars and leaders inducted into the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship (ACES) in 2024. The honor recognizes his more than 20 years of experience and expertise in advancing community engaged research, teaching and learning.

Founded in 2013, ACES is an organization of leading community engagement scholars and practitioners who are recognized for advancing scholarship that serves the public good. ACES highlights scholarship that has direct societal impact on complex societal needs and issues. ACES provides a non-partisan, transdisciplinary, research and practice-based voice for community engagement scholarship through its cultivation of partnerships with national and international associations, groups, and initiatives that promote high quality community engagement scholarship.

Rios serves as vice provost for public scholarship in the Office of Public Scholarship and Engagement, where he leads university-wide efforts to recognize public scholarship in research and teaching, create community engaged learning opportunities for students, and increase access to university resources for community partners. 

A faculty member since 2007, Rios is a professor in the Department of Human Ecology and faculty member in the Community Development, Education, and Geography graduate programs. His scholarship focuses on institutional change in higher education, community engagement, and community-driven place making. He has authored or co-authored numerous journal articles and book chapters and has co-edited several books including Diálogos: Placemaking in Latino Communities (2013) and Community Development and Democratic Practice (2017). 

“These works have significantly impacted community development practice as it relates to participatory place making,” wrote Lina Dostilio, vice chancellor for engagement and community affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, in her nomination letter for Rios. She added, “He has been a changemaker in the UC system, in large part driven by his efforts to convene and connect engagement scholars, system-wide.”

Rios is co-founder of the University of California Community Engagement Network (UCCEN), a self-organized group of community engagement administrators, faculty and staff representing each of the ten UC campuses. The UCCEN works collaboratively to support mutually beneficial community engagement in research, teaching and public service at individual UC campuses and across the UC system.

His other leadership roles include currently serving a three-year term (2024–2027) on the executive committee of the Association of Public Land-grant University’s Commission on Economic and Community Engagement. He is past president of the Association for Community Design (2002–2005) and co-recipient of the University of California’s inaugural Chancellor's Award for Community Partnerships (2002). He holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture and urban studies from Lehigh University, master of architecture and master of city planning degrees from UC Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in political geography from Pennsylvania State University.