Dr. Esperanza Román-Mendoza, Professor of Spanish and Spanish Linguistics, has forged significant Latinx community-university relationships over the past twenty years, including with the Fairfax, D.C., and Arlington school systems’ bilingual and heritage Spanish programs; with Latinx advocacy organizations including The Dream Project, Edu-Futuro, and LaCocinaVA; and through her leadership on the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS)-College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) Curriculum Impact Grant, partnering with Mason and Partner (MAP) Clinics in Prince William and Fairfax Counties, and the Department of Community and Health Services in Alexandria.
Her leadership on the Latinx Task Force in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages provides essential guidance on new Latinx outreach, advocacy, and assessment initiatives.
As the University moves forward with its larger goals of anti-racism and social justice education along the lines of an engaged campus—and expands our engaged commitments to our Latinx community in and outside the university—Dr. Román-Mendoza’s work is a beacon and a model for synergizing university and community efforts.
The award is to honor Jack Wood, former Mayor for the then-Town of Fairfax, was the driving force for arranging a campus to be located on land adjacent to the town and deeding it to the university, thus beginning a Town-Gown relationship for the university.
May 06, 2022
