Prof. María DeGuzmán, Eugene H. Falk Distinguished Professor of English & Comparative Literature & Director of The UNC Latina/o Studies Program, was recently featured in UNC Research’s publication, Rooted. Read the interview here and learn more about Prof. DeGuzmán’s 24-year career at Carolina.
As Prof. DeGuzmán describes in the interview with Rooted, she views her biggest contribution to UNC in the past 24 years she has been here to be her founding and sustaining of the transdisciplinary Latina/o Studies Program, housed in the DOECL. As DeGuzmán describes:
“It is the first and oldest of its kind in the Southeast. This program has generated impressive contributions within our department and university, across the country, and beyond. The UNC Latina/o Cultures Speakers Series alone has brought over 110 scholars, creative writers, and performers to campus. Our undergraduate minors are engaged in exciting research and other creative endeavors. Our graduate students are involved in cutting-edge research, teaching, and program building. Those graduate students who have been closely associated with the program have gone on to get tenure-track jobs, highly sought-after postdoctoral positions, and choice program director positions at top universities.”
Recently, in collaboration with Associate Professor & Norman and Dorothy Eliason Scholar Ylce Irizarry, Dr. DeGuzmán brought Dr. Elena Machado Sáez to Carolina under the aegis of The UNC Latina/o Studies Program. Dr. Sáez is a Professor of English at Bucknell University and John P. Crozer Chair of English Literature. Her presentation, February 28, was titled “Archival Activism in US Latinx Theatre.” It analyzed how “US Latinx playwrights are responding to a problem of generational discontinuity, to the gaps in community knowledge about US Latinx history and activism.” The talk, followed by a lively Q & A, was well-attended by 80 participants over Zoom.
Stay up to date on the exciting events, research, and course offerings of the LSP by visiting their website and joining their listserv.
