Paul Cuadros: Journalist, Writer, Professor

Paul Cuadros is an award-winning investigative reporter and author whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Time Magazine, Salon.com, The Huffington Post, The Chicago Reporter and for the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C.

For the past 20 years, Cuadros has focused his reporting on issues of race and poverty in America for a variety of publications and broadcast media. In 1999, Cuadros foresaw the impact of Latino migration on the interior portion of the United States and won a fellowship with the Alicia Patterson Foundation, sponsored by New York Newsday, to report on emerging Latino communities in rural poultry-processing towns in the South. The Alicia Patterson Fellowship is considered one of the most prestigious fellowships in journalism. The culmination of his reporting was his book, A Home on the Field, How One Championship Team Inspires Hope for the Revival of Small Town America, (Harpers Collins), which tells the story of Siler City, North Carolina as it copes and struggles with Latino immigration through the lives of a predominantly Latino high school soccer team.

He is a co-recipient of the 2006 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Journalism Award, Team Award, for his contribution to the radio series: North Carolina Voices, Understanding Poverty, WUNC-FM. The duPont award is recognized as the equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize in broadcast journalism.

In 2007, Cuadros joined the faculty at the School of Journalism & Mass Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill. In 2009, A Home on the Field was selected as summer reading at UNC-Chapel Hill. The book has been selected as summer reading at several other universities in North Carolina and beyond. He is the only faculty member at the university to have his book selected as summer reading. He is an associate professor at the university.

Cuadros serves as the Chair and Executive Director of the Scholars’ Latino Initiative, a three-year mentoring and college preparatory program between UNC-Chapel Hill students and Latino high school students. The Initiative, housed at the Center for Global Initiatives, serves six state high schools. The Initiative has helped more than 130 Latino students graduate from high school and be accepted to college. The Initiative is considered to be the premier program in the state when it comes to mentoring and preparing Latino high school students for higher education.

 Cuadros is the co-founder of the Carolina Latina-Latino Collaborative, which is the Latino educational and cultural center at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is also co-founder of the

Latina-Latino Caucus, a university coalition of faculty and staff on campus that advocates for Latino interests at the university.

 Cuadros continues to write about immigration and the Latino community and is currently working on another book about the Latino community in the American South.

Paul Cuadros: Coach

Paul Cuadros is also a North Carolina State Championship soccer coach. In 2004, he led the Jordan-Matthews High School Men's Soccer team to a state championship. He has accumulated a 199-66-12 career record or a 72 percent winning record. His teams have won a Divisional championship, Divisional Runner Up status, 5 Quarterfinal appearances, 5 conference championships, and 13 consecutive playoff appearances. Fifty of his players have been recognized as All Conference, 4 as All State, and 6 have gone on to play in college. Cuadros has been named State Coach of the Year in 2008, been recognized as Conference Coach of the Year 6 times, and Regional Coach of the Year 7 times. He continues to coach Los Jets today.