April 2018

Assistant Professor, Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies at the University of Kentucky (fall 2018)

PhD, Syracuse University, 2018.

Dissertation: Rhetorics of Defiance: Gender, Colonialism, and Lolita Lebrón’s Struggle for Puerto Rican Sovereignty.

At this stage of my studies in composition and cultural rhetoric I’m attempting to bridge my interests on multimodal media literacies in the composition classroom with studying the rhetorics of the Puerto Rican indie rock scene. Throughout coursework I’ve been exploring these areas of interest by incorporating transnational feminist methodologies that allow an intersectional approach of critique and self-reflexivity, considering my position as a DiaspoRican, or a Puerto Rican who has been part of a diaspora.


This year I expect to elaborate a research project in which I can incorporate the study of popular cultures of the millennial generation into the classroom, as a way of prompting students to reflect upon their media literacies as being influenced by their own particular histories. I also expect to provide a definition for the term DiaspoRican, examining connotations of race, class, and gendered norms.