Overview
Nilsa Maldonado Mendez has been teaching at Cornell University since fall 1995. She has a B.A. in English from the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus, as well as an M.S. in Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany. She taught ESL in Puerto Rico for five years and later returned to Albany to obtain a Ph.D. in Spanish. The title of her dissertation was "Estructuras de poder en la obra de Ana Lydia Vega: Acercamiento foucaultiano-feminista" (chair: Dr. Edna Acosta-Belen, SUNY at Albany). Her interests include feminism and religion in Spanish-speaking countries, teaching Spanish to heritage speakers, history, and women writers in the Spanish-speaking Americas. She is a member of LASA and ACTFL.
Research Focus
- Feminism and religion in Spanish-speaking countries
- Teaching Spanish to heritage speakers
- History
- Women writers in the Spanish-speaking Americas
