2025-10-08
- This fall, the Department of Latina/Latino Studies welcomes assistant professor Gabriela G. Corona Valencia. Professor Corona Valencia was previously a Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Associate from 2023-2025. Her research interests include histories of eugenics, public health, medicine, reproductive justice politics, and education. Read a Q&A with her to learn more about her work.
2025-10-01 - Professor Natalie Lira was recently elected to leadership positions within two professional associations, joining other Department of Latina/Latino Studies faculty who serve on professional associations in their fields.
2025-09-24 - Saraí Blanco Martinez and Angie C. Bonilla joined the Department of Latina/Latino Studies this fall as the 2025-2026 Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Associates.
2025-09-24 - LLS affiliate professor Adrian Burgos, Jr. has been named a Norman P. Jones Professorial Scholar for his contributions in education and research in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
2025-09-17 - During summer 2025, Latina/Latino studies students Jaqueline Rodriguez, Alexa Muñoz-Gomez, and Angelly Sorto Licona participated in rewarding summer internships that gave them valuable experience and skills that they can use in their careers.
2025-09-10 - Professor Mirelsie Velázquez has been named a Conrad Humanities Scholar for her contributions in education and research in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.Velázquez is interdisciplinary scholar whose work centers the history of education, women's history, Puerto Rican...
2025-07-30 - Meet Yesenia Olvera (BA, '14, Latina/Latino studies and history) the director of postsecondary success at Benito Juarez Community Academy. She was a first generation graduate who has dedicated her career to helping students and their families navigate their career paths after high school. She describes her degree in Latina/Latino studies as foundational and that it instilled in her "a critical...
2025-07-16 - LLS affiliate professor Yuridia Ramírez received a 2025 Mellon Emerging Faculty Leaders Award from the Institute of Citizens & Scholars. The award comes with a $20,000 stipend to support her research.The award recognizes scholars who...
2025-05-14 - In 2026, we will celebrate 30 years at the University of Illinois. We owe our history to the 1992 student movement for Latina/o rights on campus. The courageous activism and dedication of Latina/o students, faculty, and staff led to the creation of a Program in Latina/Latino Studies in 1996. In 2010, we became the first Department of Latina/Latino Studies in the country. As we near the 30 year...
2025-05-14 - Second-year student Cecelia Escobar, who is double majoring in political science and Latina/Latino studies, was selected for the three-week Understanding Northern Ireland” summer program at Queens University Belfast, Northern Ireland.
2025-04-23 - Congratulations to the class of 2025!
2025-04-02 - The Department of Latina/Latino Studies is pleased to announce that professor Mirelsie Velázquez received a Campus Research Board grant from Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation. The grant will fund her project, De Isla a Chicago: Stories of Puerto Rican Teachers, 1970-1990. The project will...
2025-03-12 - A new book by rhetoric and history scholars examines the origins of critical race theory in legal studies. The movement is an area of legal scholarship that seeks to understand the relationship between race and racism and the law and other societal institutions in the U.S., the authors said. It is highly controversial, with politicians at all levels of government trying to ban it from classrooms....-
2025-03-12 - The Department of Latina/Latino Studies is pleased to announce that professor Mirelsie Velázquez has been awarded a 2025-26 Campus Fellowship from the Humanities Research Institute for her project “Genealogies of Empowerment and the Makings of Home: Latina/o Activism at the University of Illinois, 1970–1992." Campus Fellowships are awarded to Illinois faculty and graduate students...
2025-03-05 - This spring, the Department of Latina/Latino Studies is excited to welcome professor Aja Y. Martinez as an associate professor. She is a critical race theory scholar and storyteller and author of the multi-award-winning book Counterstory: The Rhetoric and Writing of Critical Race Theory....