Our Alumni

2024-2025

Ruth EdwardsRuth Edwards (MA '25)

Ruth Edwards has a B.A. in Puerto Rican and Latino Studies from Brooklyn College, and graduated from El Instituto’s MA program in Latina/o and Latin American Studies. Her interests include Black and Latinx small business formation and entrepreneurship, with a specific focus on the ethics and practices of care among BIPoC small business owners/managers and how the work of care links entrepreneurs with clients, workers and suppliers.

 

 

MA '23 graduate student Apoliana de Conceição dos SantosApoliana da Conceição dos Santos (MA '25)

Apoliana da Conceição dos Santos (she/her/ela/dela) received her B.A. in Language and Literature and a postgraduate certificate in Applied Linguistics at the Federal University of Maranhão, Brazil. Before coming to UConn, she worked as a Portuguese teacher in São Luís, capital of Maranhão state. Last year, she was a Fulbright teaching Portuguese at UConn. Her research interests are in exploring racial perspectives within literary works. Her intention is to further expand her knowledge in the areas of racial and social studies within the Latin American context. She aims to gain a deeper understanding of how these studies can be applied to critically examine and deconstruct the historically constructed notion of racial democracy in Brazilian society. Her many other interests include writing, linguistics, languages, Brazilian and Latin American literature, and Culture.

 

Head shot of MA '23 Graduate Student Melissa Pérez Peña

Melissa Pérez Peña (MA'25)

Melissa Pérez received a B.A. in Literature from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana. She also holds an M.A. in Caribbean Literature from the Universidad de Antioquia. For the past several years, her research has focused on the relationship between the maritorios and Caribbean poetic and literary production.

 

 

Menglu Chen (MA'25)MA '23 graduate student Menglu Chen

Menglu Chen (She/her/ella) has a B.A. in Media Studies from Emerson College and minored in Latino and Latin American Literature. She has recently graduated from El Instituto’s Master of Arts in Latina/o and Latin American Studies program. Her journey has taken her from Boston to Mexico City and Shanghai, ultimately concluding in Storrs, Connecticut, accompanied by her beloved dog, Daniel Chen. Her interests include literary and cultural interaction between Latin America and Asia, especially the circulation and translation of Latin American Literature in China. Her ideal research project is to study trees, the rubber tree forests that were transplanted physically from the Caribbean to Malaysia, and the iconic imagery of ¨the rubber tappers¨ in Latin American and Sinophone Literature

2023-2024

Luis Palomino (MA '24) Luis Palomino, M.A. '22

Luis Palomino graduated from El Instituto’s Master International Studies program (also known as Latina/o and Latin American Studies). He received  a B.A. in Economics from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM, Peru). He is an Affiliated Researcher at the Research Center of Universidad del Pacifico (CIUP) and the Center for Mining and Sustainability Studies of Universidad del Pacifico (CEMS-UP). His research interests are regional development, economic geography, urban economics, economic history, human capital, experimental economics, and mechanism design. His work has been published by Palgrave Macmillan, Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), and Fondo Editorial de la Universidad del Pacifico (Peru). In the past, he has been a Research Assistant in the Research Department of the IADB, CIUP, in the Marketing Group of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, and in the Macroeconomic Models Department of the Central Bank of Peru. He has also been a Teaching Assistant at the Universidad del Pacifico (UP) and the UNMSM.

Alejandra Gutierrez-Lara, M.A. '22Alejandra Gutierrez-Lara (MA '24)

Alejandra Gutierrez-Lara (She/her/ella) graduated from El Instituto’s Master International Studies program (also known as Latina/o and Latin American Studies). She loves to cook and spend time petting her cat Yavi. She graduated from Universidad Nacional de Colombia with a B.A. in Anthropology and a specialization in Feminism and Gender Studies. She has worked as an archeologist in Colombia and is very interested in a critical analysis of the archaeological labor professional practice from a critical feminist, decolonial perspective. She is a member of the Gefa (Genero, Feminismo y Arqueología) Collective, and the Critical Archaeology Research group at Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Levinson H. Niño-Leal (MA '24)
Levinson H. Niño-Leal, M.A. '22

Levinson H. Niño-Leal (He/him/el) graduated from El Instituto’s Master in International Studies program (also known as Latina/o and Latin American Studies). He graduated from Universidad Nacional de Colombia with a B.A. in Anthropology and a specialization in Public Policy Analysis. He has expertise in harm reduction programs and has worked as a researcher and consultant on issues pertaining to drug use and drug policy. Since 2017, he has represented Colombia as an activist in the Latin American Network of People who Uses Drugs -LANPUD. He is a founding member of the non-governmental organization Centro de Innovación, Cultura y Sociedad -CENICS- which is based in Bogota, Colombia, and founding member of Red Internacional para la Reducción del Estigma [International Network for Stigma Reduction].

 

2021-2023

2023

Diana Velasco, MADiana Velasco (MA '23) graduated with an M.A at El Instituto. She received her B.A. in both Political Science and Human Rights here at UConn. She has worked extensively with the undocumented community in Connecticut as well as facilitating UConn's first Human Rights Symposium. Her research focuses on Latin American migration, undocumented communities in the US, and trauma epidemic at the US- Mexico border.

 

Juan Macias, MAJuan Sebastián Macías Díaz (MA '23) graduated with an M.A at El Instituto. Juan received his B.A. in History from the Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia). He is interested in the interplay between colonialism, information networks, popular politics, and race and indigeneity during the Age of Revolutions.

 

 

 

 

Sarah RamirezSarah Ramirez (MA '23) graduated with an M.A at El Instituto with a certificate in Feminist Studies. Sarah graduated with a B.A. in Law, Economics, & Public Policy and American & Ethnic Studies and minored in Human Rights and Diversity Studies at the University of Washington-Bothell. She was her university's first McNair Scholar, and her research interests include art as abolition and resistance, the relationship between religion and neo-colonialism, and problematizing global citizenship and international education.

 

 

Melissa Echevarria-Valentin, MAMelissa Echevarría-Valentín (MA '23) graduated with an M.A at El Instituto. She received her B.A. in Hispanic Studies and a curricular sequence in Cultural Studies of Women and Gender at University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez. Before coming to UConn, she worked as a Spanish teacher in Puerto Rico. Her research interests are in the representation and contribution of women in Caribbean culture and music. Her many other interests include writing, linguistics, Puerto Rican and Hispanoamerican literature and the preservation of collective memory through story and novels.

GRAD Hernandez, Maria

 

 

Maria Hernandez (MA '23) graduated with an M.A at El Instituto. Maria received her B.A. in Political Science and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Lehman College. Her research interests are in immigrant health, food insecurity, chronic diseases, and health outcomes.

 

 

 

2022

​Daniela Itzel Domínguez Tavares (MA '22) graduated with a Master of Arts in Latino and Latin American Studies.  Daniela received her B.A. in History from the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes, Mexico.  Daniela has worked as a newspaper columnist and history teacher; and has published historical fiction and articles related to women and migrants and some critical reviews. In 2017 Daniela received a grant to develop a research project (PECDA). Daniela's research interests are: Mexico, populism, bilateral relations between the United States and Mexico and Cold War.

 

GRAD Alonso VelasquezAlonso Velasquez (MA '22) graduated with a Master of Arts in Latina/o/x and Latin American Studies in El Instituto. Alonso received his B.A. majoring in Journalism and minoring in political science from Central Connecticut State University. He is interested in researching the political participation and involvement of indigenous communities in Peru, his birth country.

 

 

Liliana OliveiraLiliana Oliveira (MA '22) (she/her/Ella) graduated with an M.A at El Instituto as well a graduate certificate in Feminist Studies. Liliana graduated from UConn with a B.A in History and minors in Political Science and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Her research interests are on the portrayals of gender and sexuality of Latinx characters in U.S. media. 

 

 

GRAD Caesar ValentinCaesar Valentin (MA '22) graduated with a a joint  M.A. and M.P.A. Caesar Graduated from UConn with a B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy with a minor in Human Rights. Caesar is interested in Political Theory and Public Administration Ethics.

 

 

2021

​GRAD Nina VazquezNina Vazquez (MA '21) Is an M.A. graduate in Puerto Rican, Latinx, Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Nina graduated with a dual B.A. in Criminal Justice and Political Science with an emphasis in Racial and Ethnic Relations. Her interests are on the history of development of race and ethnicity in Latin America and the Caribbean, Puerto Rican citizenship and Puerto Rican radical politics from the 1930s to 1970s.

 

 

GA Oxana Sidorova

Oxana Sidorova (MA'21) received her B.A. in Marketing Management from the Don State Technical University, Russia. Her research interests are first and second language acquisition, translanguaging, language teaching and learning, world language education. She is particularly interested in bilingual and multilingual education, intercultural communication, intercultural competence, CLIL, project-based learning, designed-based learning, interdisciplinary in language teaching and learning.

 

 

Graduate Cap IconGenesis Carela (MA'21) received her B.A. in Political Science from the University of Rhode Island. She is interested in curriculum interventions in K-12 urban public schools, specifically the use of culturally sustaining pedagogy. Her long term goal is to work in the field of education policy to ensure that schools offer a high quality education that meets the needs of an increasingly diverse student population. Her thesis research explores instructional and curricular approaches that are responsive to students and include marginalized perspectives more generally.

 

 

2016 – 2020

2020

Victoria Almodovar (MA '20) Victoria Almodovar (MA '20) completed a thesis project that explored  Latina/o/x student involvement in fraternities and sororities. Currently, she is exploring a career in Human Resources. Her  long-term goal is to help increase opportunities for Latinos in the United States through education, advocacy, and policy.
Julia Marchese (MA'20) Julia Marchese (MA'20) completed her B.A. in Spanish Literature and Translation ('18) at Kent State University. Her Master's thesis was an ethnography of a predominantly Latinx and (bi)lingual high school with an increasing number of undocumented indigenous Guatemalan students. She found that the schooling practices of these students need to be critically examined due to the discursive and academic erasure of Latinx indigeneity and indigenous language practices. Since graduating from UConn, Julia has been living in her hometown, Cincinnati, Ohio, and working with Co-Op Cincy to develop a composting cooperative, Queen City Commons, that provides residential and commercial composting drop off services to local community members. In the process, she has much enjoyed learning about anti-capitalist and unconventional alternatives to living and working.
Matheus Souza (MA'20) Matheus Souza (MA'20) completed his B.A. at the University of Connecticut. His research interests are the processes of creating, implementing and analyzing policies and government actions that meet the needs of society as a whole while strengthening the positive impact of governments, non-governmental organizations, and other civil society actors. Eventually he would like to work with international development agencies.

 

2019

Felix Padilla-Carbonell (MA '19) Felix Padilla-Carbonell (MA '19) received a B.A. in Political Science and a Juris Doctor in Law from UPR-Rio Piedras. After completing his Master of Arts in Latino and Latin American Studies at UConn, he has gone on to enrol in the doctoral program at the Graduate Center, CUNY. He is going to study Political Theory with a concentration in Critical Theory.
Graduate Cap Icon Gisely Colón-López (MA'19) completed a Master's thesis paper on the history of Puerto Rican studies at Brooklyn College. She is now an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies at Lehman College.

 

2018

Stephanie Mercado-Irizarry (MA '18) received her B.A. in Political Science from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras in 2014. After finishing her MA in Latina/o and Latin American Studies, she gained admission to UConn's doctoral program in Spanish language and literatures.
Cynthia Melendez (MA '18) is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the Department of Performance Studies at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She was awarded the 2018 Wood/Raith Living Trust Summer Fellowship on gender identity to continue her research on the theatrical work of LGBTIQ activists using testimonio within Peru. This work will act as a foundation for her doctoral studies.
Andrea Miranda (MA '18) is a graduate student who received her bachelor's degree in History from the Universidad de Cartagena, Colombia. In 2012 and 2013 she won The Young Research Scholarship granted by the Colombian National Science System (COLCIENCIAS). In 2015 she received her postgraduate studies in Higher Education and in 2016 she received her Masters degree in Cultural Heritage at the Universidad de Panamá. Her research interests include race, politics, Caribbean studies and the history of education.
Shanelle Morris (MA '18) is a graduate student pursuing a Master of Arts in Latino and Latin American Studies. She is also pursuing the Human Rights and Nonprofit Management graduate certificate. She received her B.A. in International Studies from Trinity College in 2016. Her research interests include colonialism, imperialism, race, culture and the African Diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Ashley Ortiz-Chico (MA '18) is a graduate student who received her bachelor’s in Political Science with a specialty in International Relations and Political Theory and a minor in Latin American and Puerto Rican Literature from la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras. Research interests include Latin American and Caribbean Politics and economic development. Currently she is studying the relationship between Puerto Rico and the US and the PROMESA bill.
Lauren Perez-Bonilla (MA '18) is now studying for a doctorate in Geography at UConn. Her research topic is male sex workers' internet use in the Dominican Republic, including how notions of safety, community/networks, and identity are created online, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has favored a shift toward online advertising. An adaptation of her thesis paper  was published as a chapter in the book Gender, Health, and Society in Contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean (Shepard & Ginzburg, eds.). With fellow UConn PhD students Pauline Batista and Claudio Daflon, Perez-Bonilla has been awarded the Initiative on Campus Dialogues (ICD) Fellowship for the Vamos! project, a series of talks centered around the concept of 'Latinidad' and the Afro-Latinx community at UConn. Before coming to UConn, she completed a Bachelor’s in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras.
Katherine Pérez-Quiñones (MA '18) received her BA in Political Science in the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras. After completing her MA in Latinx and Latin American Studies at UConn, she continued to work in Connecticut at a local community organization around issues of food and social justice for the next two years. Kathy recently received a fellowship for the Community and Regional Planning PhD program at The University of Texas-Austin and hopes to continue collaborating closely with communities on social justice and place-based initiatives.
Cindy Portillo (MA '18) is a graduate student who received her B.A. at the University of Richmond. Cindy’s research interests include unaccompanied child migration from Central America to the United States and violence and poverty in the Northern Triangle region. Currently, she is focused on the effect of educational policies and school environment on Latino English language learners.

 

2017

Ilan Unger (MA '17) received a B.S. in Business Management and B.A. in Spanish/Portuguese from UNC-Asheville. For his Master's thesis paper at El Instituto, he research the effects of the 2001 economic crises of Argentina  on trade (imports and exports). He now works as an ALIM consultant at STOR Global.
Katheryn Maldonado (MA '17) did her Master's thesis paper on activist efforts to overturn the denationalization of Haitian ancestry people in the Dominican Republic. She is now pursuing a J.D. at William and Mary.
Graduate Cap Icon Katherine Quinn (MA '17) completed her master's thesis paper in spring 2017, assessing the effectiveness of the Model School Network in achieving holistic human development for school children in the Plateau Central, Haiti.

 

2016

Graduate Cap Icon Jihan Asher (MA '16) completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland. In her MA thesis paper at El Instituto, she explored organized and spontaneous responses to the abandonment of community policing models in Jamaica in the second decade of the 21st century. Comparing the way that community members in Kingston rallied around Christopher Coke when the Jamaican government sought to assist the U.S. in extraditing him with earlier and more clearly recognized instances of political rebellion and revolt, she suggested their spontaneous enactments of allegiance responded to Coke's material investment in the futures of members of their community. She now works as Secure World Foundation's Operations and Communications Coordinator based in Washington, DC.
Pauline Batista (MA ’16) returned to UConn in Fall 2017 to being work on her PhD. In the Neag School of Education’s Learning, Leadership and Educational Policy program. Pauline was a torch bearer for the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero Brazil.
Ilan Sanchez Moreno (MA'15) Ilan Sanchez Moreno (MA ’16) works in the World Languages department at The College Preparatory School in Oakland CA where he teaches Literature and Spanish.
Melvin J. Medina (MA '16) serves as Public Policy and Advocacy Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut (ACLU-CT). His primary responsibility is to lead the organization’s efforts to create and maintain community engagement through education, member attainment, and general outreach.
Graduate Cap Icon Hannah Reier (MA '16) wrote her MA thesis paper on American retirement colonies in Ecuador.

2011 – 2015

2015

Charlie Fuentes (MA ’15) is a Spanish teacher and head boys’ soccer coach at Choate Rosemary Hall.
Graduate Cap Icon Tyra Lewis (MA ’15) is Assistant Director of Academic Advising at Clark University.
Matthew Perse (MA ’15) is chair of the World Languages Department, and Instructor of Spanish at Christ School, Arden, NC.

 

2014

Carla Silva-Muhammad (MA ’14) is Director of Strategy and Operations at Relay Connecticut.
Yesha Doshi (MA ’14) is a Senior Accountant at Priceline.
Andrea Chunga-Celis (MA ’14) is a Grants Coordinator for Adelante Mujeres, a nonprofit organization working to educate and empower low-income Latina women and families in the state of Oregon.

 

2013

Maria Berger (MA ’13) works as an adjunct faculty member teaching Hispanic Culture and Communication in UConn's College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources. She also works as a freelance Spanish translator and tutor. She has traveled to China, Panama, Chile, and South Africa and enjoys every culture and their unique traditions.
Jenniann Colon (MA ’13) oversees the Relocation Department and Employee Services at Valero Energy Corporation. She served as Executive Director of Ballet San Antonio and prior to that was Director of Communications for Academica SouthWest.
Jennifer A. Cook (MA ’13) Ph.D. Anthropology ’17) did a three-year Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX focused on immigration policy and public policy impacting Latinos. She now works as a consultant for the labor rights monitor group, Verite, based in Amherst, MA.

 

2012

Ruth Hernández-Ríos (MA ’12) completed a doctorate in Sociology at UConn in 2020, based on extensive ethnographic research with a woman-led transnational Mexican community theatre collective. She is now a Lecturer in Sociology at Skidmore College. She is now a Teaching Professor in Sociology at Skidmore College. In addition to her academic work, she is an activist involved in various community projects that aid temporary and permanent Latina/o migrants in Connecticut.

 

2011

Graduate Cap Icon Andrea Vega Mackler (MA '11) is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in UConn's Spanish Department. Her areas of interest are the connections between translation and culture, and the influence of translation on Argentinean literature.

2005 – 2010

2010

William Otto Katt (MA ’10) William Otto Katt (MA ’10) is an expert advisor in the Lewis-Burke law firm in Washington, DC, in the areas of higher education, workforce, immigration, and tax policy. Before joining Lewis-Burke, Katt served as the Education Advisor for Tennessee Representative Phil Roe, a member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee.
Ronnie Shepard (MA'10) Ronnie Shepard (MA ’10 and Ph.D. in Anthropology ’16) currently holds positions as an adjunct professor and instructor at both UConn and Goodwin College. He is a social scientist experienced in teaching and conducting qualitative research and community outreach at the local and international levels.

 

2008

Maria Cristina Durango Chavez (MA ’08) is General Manager and Director and Corporate Governance Manager at MG Head Hunting, Querétaro, Mexico.

 

2007

Yazmín A. García Trejo (MA '07) is a survey statistician and researcher at the US Census Bureau, Center for Survey Measurement. She works directly with the language and cross cultural group and studies the link between Census participation and Census knowledge among hard-to-count populations.

 

2006

Kerry Stefancyk (MA ’06) went on to earn an MS in Global Affairs, International Development and Humanitarian Assistance, from NYU in 2016. She is a project manager with the Wells Fargo Community Mural Program in the San Francisco Bay area.
Graduate Cap Icon Maria Fernanda Enriquez Szentkirály (MA ’06) received her PhD in Political Science from UConn in 2014. She is Future Earth Administrative Officer & Global Sustainability Scholars Coordinator at the Sustainability Innovation Lab at the University of Colorado.
Professor Emma Amador head shot Emma Amador (MA ’06) received her Ph.D. in History in 2015 from the University of Michigan. She is an Assistant Professor of History and Latina/o, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies at UConn.

 

2005

GRAD Mayte Restrepo Ruiz Mayte Restrepo Ruiz (MA 05', MPH 14', PhD. 21') dissertation focused on the association between armed conflict, intimate partner violence and women's mental health. She was awarded the UConn Human Rights Dissertation Research award and the Emerging Scholar Award from the Harry Fran Guggenheim Foundation to complete my dissertation. She is a Research Assistant in the Department of Public Health Sciences at UConn Health since 2016 and oversee health services research and evaluation projects.