Graduate Student Bios

Education / Degrees
PhD Candidate, Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies (LACS), Expected May 2021 
Master of Arts in Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies (LACS), May 2012
Bachelor of Arts in Economics, minor: Business Administration, May 2000

Courses Taught

Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences 

• Spanish for Health Careers, 211 - 08/2020 to Present

University at Albany

• Puerto Rico; History, Culture, and People (Winter Online Course) - 12/2019 to 01/2020
   

Publications

• The significance of study cases in qualitative research methods - International Migration, Remittances, and Gender. Ethnographic Qualitative Research Conference (EQRC) – Work in Progress
• Peruvian International Migration, Remittances and Gender: From the Local to the Global" Latin American Perspectives (LASA) – Work in Progress
   

Recent Presentations

• XXXIII International Conference 2019 - Latin American Studies Association (LASA). Doctoral Thesis – Proposal: "The Emotional Cost of Migration: Peruvian Women Migrants' in the U.S" - 05/2019
• 31st Annual Ethnographic and Qualitative Research Conference (EQRC). "Migration, Remittances, and Gender: A Qualitative Study of the Peruvian Province of Callao." - 02/2019

MS, MA, PhD Candidate

Website: www.proyectarnacion.com
X (Twitter): @iapelanz

Dissertation Title
Pioneras Mujeres Con Gambetas: (en)gendering territories en la historia del fútbol argentino 

Research Interest

• Gender dynamics and inequalities in sports with focus on fútbol
• Oral (Hi)stories as a source of knowledge
• Fútbol Femenino and Fútbol Feminista in Argentina and Latin America

Education

• University at Albany
• Master of Arts Degree in Spanish (2014)
• Master of Science Degree in Curriculum Development & Instructional Technology (2013)
• Bachelor’s Degree, summa cum laude, in Latin American Studies and Economics (2007)

Courses Taught

University at Albany

• ALCS201. Latinos US
• ALCS229. Futbol in the Americas
• ALCS330: Futbol in Latin America. History of a Global Sport
• ALCS229/330. Women and Sports in the Americas
• ALCS330/348. Social Change in Latin America

Siena College

• SPAN101. Fundamentals of Spanish I

Hartwick College

• SPAN101. Beginning Spanish I
• SPAN102. Beginning Spanish II

Publications

Book Chapter

Apelanz, Ildefonso (2020). Argentina in the Women's World Cup Mexico 1971: a collaborative approach to building a theoretical landmark. In Carvalho, J. (Ed) Sports Media History: Culture, Technology, Identity (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/978042928775

Arturo Lua Castillo is a scholar with a background in Latin American studies, Economics, and Sustainability.

My coursework in LACS at UAlbany has given me a nuanced understanding of Latin American countries and their relationship to sustainable development. My research projects focus on the potential for democratized renewable energy development and agroecological applications in underserved rural areas of Mexico. I study the social lifecycles of different development projects to assess their equitability and lasting impacts. I advocate for programs that distribute the benefits of sustainable technology in places where sovereignty, transparency, and democratic control are essential to tackling environmental, economic, and social needs.

Education
PhD Student, Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies, University at Albany
MA in Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies, University at Albany, May 2023
BA in Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies, University at Albany, May 2020
BA in Economics, University at Albany, May 2020

Dissertation Title
The Real Potential of Renewable Energy in Mexico

Research Interests

• Sustainability Science
• Sustainable Development
• Renewable Energy
• Social Ecology
• Agroforestry
• Systems Theory

Website: luisjaviercintrong.com 
X (Twitter): @LuisJCintron787

Research Interests
Violence and Drug trafficking; Death Studies; Cultural Sociology, Mass Media & Culture, Hispanic Caribbean Studies, Puerto Rico

Education / Degrees
MAC in Media and Contemporary Culture, Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, 2020
MA in Sociology (With Distinction), Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, 2016
BA in Political Science, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, 2010

Courses Taught

University at Albany

• ALCS 100 - Culture and Power in Americas
• ASPN 101 - Elementary Spanish II

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

• SOC 100 - Introduction to Sociology
• SOC 310 - Social Research Methods
   

Publications

Peer Reviewed Articles

• Cintrón-Gutiérrez, Luis J. Tepito y la Ciudad de México desde el “tercer espacio” de Ingobernable. Middle Atlantic Review of Latin American Studies, 4, (1), pp.142–158. DOI: 10.23870/marlas.231
• Cintrón-Gutiérrez, Luis J. (2019). "Entre “hacer historia” y “¡Qué me velen para’o!”: velorios exóticos y marginalidad contemporánea en San Juan de Puerto Rico. Cuadernos Inter·c·a·mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe, 15, (1). DOI: 10.15517/c.a..v16i1.36498. Book Sections, Chapters & Proceedings
• Cintrón-Gutiérrez, Luis J. (2015). "Aspectos sociológicos sobre la narco-cultura y los ritos funerarios en Puerto Rico: El caso de la muerte del Chacal de Llorens Torres.” pp. 112-121. In María del C. Quintero Aguiló, G.J. Jiménez Fuentes, M. Joseph Haynes, G. Mejía González, D. Ursulin Mopsus (Eds.), Caribbean Without Borders: Beyond the Can(n)on's Range. Newcastle upon Tyne: UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Book Reviews

• Cintrón-Gutiérrez, Luis J. (2019). Review of the book Passages and Afterworlds: Anthropological Perspectives on Death in the Caribbean ed. by Maarit Forde and Yanique Hume]. Caribbean Studies 47(2), 164-166. doi:10.1353/crb.2019.0022.
   

Recent Presentations

• Cintrón-Gutiérrez, Luis J. (2020, August). “Internet Memes as a Representation of Puerto Rican Cities: The Case of Bayamón as a Narcospace.”115th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Virtual Conference Due to COVID-19. -Cintrón-Gutiérrez, Luis J. (2019, May). “#QueCuenten: Deaths, Journalism, Politics, and Memory in Puerto Rico After Hurricane María.” XXXVII International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association - LASA 2019. Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. [Conference Paper]
• Cintrón-Gutiérrez, Luis J. (2019, April 5). “[…] más allá de la frontera nos imponen la Guerra’: The Representation of the Contemporary US – Mexico Economic and Political Relations in Ingobernable”. Economic Imaginaries in the Literature and Cinema of Spain and Latin America Symposium. Lehman College - CUNY, Bronx, New York, United States of America.
• Cintrón-Gutiérrez, Luis J. (2018, May 24). “Death, Marginality, Images and Performance: Contemporary wake ceremonies in inner city of San Juan, Puerto Rico.” XXXVI International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association - LASA 2018. Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Marina Hernandez, MPH, MA, CHES® is a transdisciplinary scholar specializing in the fields of Public Health, Latin American Studies, and U.S. Latina/o/x Studies. Her work focuses on factors that influence health opportunities of historically excluded populations with an emphasis on gender and sexually diverse communities. As a public health scholar, adverse reproductive health outcomes are the essence of Marina’s research. She aims to contribute to scholarship on sociocultural, historical, and political barriers to health justice. When she is not doing scholarly things, Marina enjoys reading genre fiction, hiking with her partner, and spending quality time with her two cats.

Education
MA in Latin American Studies, Tulane University, 2022
MPH Tulane University, 2020 
BA in Spanish, University of Central Oklahoma, 2017 
BS in Community/Public Health, University of Central Oklahoma, 2017 

Dissertation Title
Trauma del Parto: An Exploration of Obstetric Violence among Latina/o/x Communities in the U.S. 

Research Interests

• Sexual health
• Reproductive justice
• Gender-based violence
• Cultural influences on health
• Gendered determinants of aging
• Liberatory pedagogies 

Publications
Eskildsen, N., Dejan, A., & Hernandez, M. (2020). “New Orleans Syringe Access Program and implementation of harm reduction practices.” Journal of Louisiana Public Health Association, 1(1), 38-40. https://www.flipsnack.com/jlpha/jlpha-volume-1-issue-1-november-30-2020.html 

Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane. (2020). Conexión: Art and Activism in Oaxaca. New Orleans, LA. https://blue-parakeet-z4da.squarespace.com/ 

Hernandez, M. S. (2019, September 24). What is Public Health? Tulane School of Public Health Tropical Medicine. https://sph.tulane.edu/what-public-health
 

Courses Taught/Co-Facilitated

University at Albany

• ALCS 100 Culture and Power in the Americas 
• ALCS 201 Latino USA 

Tulane University 

• SPHU 4010 Formulation Public Health Policy 
• IHSD 6300 Monitoring of Global Health Programs 
• COLQ 3601 Adverse Childhood Experiences 
• SPHU 3500 Public Health Approach to Sexual Violence 
• SPHU 1010 Intro To Public Health 

University of Central Oklahoma 

• BIO 2504 Human Anatomy & Laboratory 

Stephen Ippolito is an interdisciplinary scholar specializing in sociology, disability studies, and Africana, Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latinx Studies. 

His work integrates Universal Design for Learning (UDL), inclusive pedagogy and critical approaches to rethinking colonial legacies in education, with a focus on improving accessibility to education for students. His research includes Latinx identity, history and culture, disability culture, UDL, and misrepresentation of people with disabilities and other marginalized groups in mass media and popular culture. 

Stephen currently teaches in the Disability Studies program at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Professional Studies and in the Department of Africana, Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies at the University at Albany (SUNY). 

He is an ACDES Certified Diabetes Counselor and an active community leader with the Lions Club International, District 20-R2, serving as Chair of Diabetes Awareness and Disability Empowerment, for which he has received multiple awards for his work. 

He has contributed to conversations on accessibility and inclusion on platforms such as the AudioEye Podcast and the A11y Podcast, where he discusses disability culture, inclusive design and accessibility in education and media. 

He is a mentor with the CUNY School of Professional Studies Alumni Engagement Council (AEC) and has supported college initiative programs that expand access for underserved students. He was nominated for the 2025 Adjunct Faculty Teaching Excellence Award at the CUNY School of Professional Studies.

He has also attended various conferences, including ALARI, the Dominican Studies Association, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA), LASA and GCSAYN, which focuses on Climate Youth Programs in Africa.

When he is not teaching or presenting, Stephen organizes disability and health awareness programs, delivers keynote talks on youth empowerment, climate change and college, and works to build inclusive educational spaces both within and outside academia.

Education

• PhD Candidate (ABD), Africana, Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies, University at
  Albany, State University of New York (SUNY)
• MA, Disability Studies, City University of New York (CUNY) School of Professional Studies,
  2017 — Summa Cum Laude
• BA, Sociology, City University of New York (CUNY) School of Professional Studies, 2014 —
  Summa Cum Laude

Dissertation Title

Learning, Inclusiveness, and Preparedness for Two-Year College and Beyond: Universal Design for Learning and the Experiences of English Language Learners in Higher Education

Courses (Taught and Currently Teaching)

• City University of New York (CUNY) School of Professional Studies – Disability Studies
  • DSAB 200: Disability and Society
  • DSAB 499: Undergraduate Capstone Course
  • DSAB 699: Graduate Capstone Course
• University at Albany — Department of Africana, Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies
  • ALCS 100: Culture and Power in the Americas
  • ALCS 205: Caribbean Tourism: Service or Servitude?

Research Interests

• Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and inclusive pedagogy
• Disability Studies, Disability culture and identity
• Latinx Studies, intersectionality and Critical Race Theory
• Sociology of the body and media representation
• Sociology of education
• Political Science
• Educational equity and access for English language learners and students with disabilities
• Community health, diabetes awareness and disability empowerment

Publications

Ippolito, S. (2020). The Misrepresentation of the Disability Media Narrative. Presented at the 9th Annual Graduate Student Conference, Department of Romance Languages and Literature, State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo).

Ippolito, S. (forthcoming, 2026). Latin Disability Voices: Rewriting Representation Through Empowerment in Social Media. Accepted for presentation at the Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) 2026 Convention.

Conferences & Invited Talks

Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) 2025 – Imagining Revolutionary Figurations
of Age and Disability in Hispanic Cultures: “The Underrepresentation of Latinx Intersectionality
and Disabilities in Media.”

Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) 2026 – Latin Disability Voices Rewriting
Representation Through Empowerment in Social Media (accepted).

AudioEye podcast, Advancing Inclusion in Education and Business. Episode 6 with Stephen
Ippolito

A11y podcast: Accessibility to Education 2024

Lions Club International Conferences – Presenter on Disability Empowerment and Diabetes
Awareness. 2024 and 2025

HERO H.S. Disability and Society Seminar 2025

Keynote Speaker – Youth, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), and
Climate Change Leadership at the GCSAYN for Climate Youth Programs in Africa Forum 2025

CUNY SPS Undergraduate Information Session Panelist – Mentorship and pathways to higher
education 2025

College Initiative Programs – Mentor and speaker on disability inclusion and higher education
access. 2025 

Awards & Honors

Nominee, Adjunct Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, CUNY School of Professional Studies, December 2025

Multiple Lions Club International Community Impact Awards for disability empowerment,
diabetes awareness and public health initiatives

Recognized for mentorship and alumni engagement through the CUNY School of Professional Studies Alumni Engagement Council

Scholarships & Grants

Dominican Writers Association Scholarship Award (2021) – The Performance of the Written Self workshop

Professional Certifications

Diabetes Counselor, Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists (ACDES) Certification

First Aid Response Certification

Dissertation / MA Project
"Women Artists in the dictatorial regime of Omar Torrijos 1971-1981"

Major Awards and Scholarships

• Visiting researcher/fellowship, Anthropological, Historical and Cultural Research in Panama (CIHAC-AIP), July-August 2022
• Patricia Stocking Brown (Graduate) Research Award from the University at Albany´s University Libraries´ M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, 2023
• Initiatives for Women Award, 2023

Education/Degrees

• MA, University of Connecticut, 2018
• Master in Cultural Heritage Management, Universidad de Panamá, 2016
• BA in History, Universidad de Cartagena, 2005

Publications

Book Review

• Miranda Pestana, Andrea Carolina. “La Isla de Pinos: Reminiscencias de Una Colonia Estadounidense Olvidada Michael Neagle. America's forgotten Colony Cuba's Isle of Pines. Cambridge University Press, 2016. PP 285. In Memorias: Revista Digital de Historia y Arqueología desde el Caribe, (38), (2019): 186-190. https://doi.org/10.14482/memor.38.972.91.

Book Chapter

• Miranda Pestana, Andrea Carolina. “School desegregation o integración forzada: raza y educación en la zona del canal de Panamá. 1954-1957.” In Los Países Centroamericanos y Colombia. Historia, relaciones y desencuentros con el Gran Caribe, edited by Raúl Román Romero and David Díaz Arias, 237-258. San Andrés: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 2020.
• Miranda, Andrea, Pacheco, Berena et  al (2016). "Estragos de la viruela en Cartagena : limitaciones de los discursos médicos y de la política pública, 1822-1842" en, La ciudad en tiempos de epidemias : Cartagena durante el siglo XIX e inicios del XX . Universitaria Cartagena De Indias. p.23 - 58,  2016.
• Miranda Pestana,Andrea Carolina, (2016) "El Packing House de Coveñas. Avances y retrocesos de la industria ganadera en la Costa Caribe Colombiana 1910-1926" en, Economía del Caribe colombiano y construcción de nación (1770-1930) . Editorial Universidad Nacional. p.233 – 263.Miranda Pestana, Andrea Carolina, & Román Romero, Raúl. (2014). Conflictos y negociaciones entre los empresarios harineros de la región andina y los de la costa caribe colombiana, 1904-1912. América Latina en la historia económica, 21(3), 176-200. Recuperado en 16 de noviembre de 2020, de https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1405-22532014000300007&lng=es&tlng=es.          

Recent Presentations

Conferences

• Miranda Pestana, Andrea Carolina (2021). “Integración Forzada: Educación y Segregación Racial en la Zona del Canal de Panamá 1954-1964” Presented at XV SEMINARIO INTERNACIONAL DE ESTUDIOS DEL CARIBE. El Caribe ayer y hoy: tensiones, rupturas y continuidades, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. July 26 –30, 2021. Vía Zoom.

Public Engagement

• Invited Curator, Contemporary Art Museum, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Panamá (MAC)/ Panamá, Ciudad de Panamá - June 2021 to January 2022
  • Participation in a collaborative project to select artistic work preserved in the MAC collection to be integrated into the exhibition "keeping seeds in the hair"
  • Invited artists to participate in the exhibition
  • Participation in the drafting of the exhibition texts 
  • Development of a route describing the connection between the artwork included in the exhibition and discourses on decoloniality, representation and empowerment. 
• Research Assistant, Panama Canal Museum Museo del Canal de Panamá/Panamá, Ciudad de Panamá - August 2020 to April 2022
  • Designment of annotated bibliography on migration of Afro-Caribbean workers to the Isthmus of Panama during the first decades of the 20th century.
  • Research of secondary sources on the racial segregation policies implemented by the authorities of the Panama Canal Zone.
  • Collaboration in the research process of the second phase of renovation of the exhibition.
• University Art Museum/ Albany, NY
  • Participation in organizing the upcoming art exhibition: Libros-Arte organized with the University at Albany M.E. Grenander Special Collections and Archives, Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and the Department of Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies. 
• Interpretation Assistant, Adirondack Experience/ Blue Mountain Lake, NY

PhD Student & Health Disparities Fellow

Education
Graduate Health Disparities Certificate, University at Albany, 2023
MA in History, University at Albany, 2021
BA in History, University at Albany, 2020
 

Research interests

• Central American communities
• Informal labor
• Undocumented migration
• Paid domestic labor
• Immigrant health
• Health disparities
• Oral history
• Community storytelling

Dissertation focus 
My research focuses on the experiences of Central American undocumented domestic workers in metropolitan NY from the 1970s to the present. Through the collection of oral histories, I center the voices and narratives of women participating in this labor market throughout decades, to explain immigrants’ sense of belongingness and agency despite the historic and continuous anti-immigrant discourse fixed to exclude, undermine, and deny their rights. Situated within migration, Latinx, and labor studies my research provides significant insights into remaining questions regarding Latin American immigrants’ community formation, informal labor, and the configuration of paid domestic labor in the United States.

Publications 

• Book review
  Chiricú Journal [Forthcoming] 
  “Migrants’ Rights in North America: A Transnational Responsibility”
  Xóchitl Bada and Shannon Gleeson, eds. Accountability Across Borders: Migrant Rights in North America. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2019. 
• Peer-reviewed article 
  American Journal of Public Health [In progress]
  “COVID-19 Misinformation in Spanish-Speaking Communities”

Research Assistant
For chapter “Scorched Earth” in Dawson, Alexander S. Latin America Since Independence: a History with Primary Sources. 3rd edition., Routledge, May 18, 2022.

Scholarships/Awards:

• Doctoral Fellowship for Research Training in Health Disparities (2021)
• Patricia Stocking Brown Research Award Recipient (2021)
• Jefferson Awards Finalist (2021)
• Adna W. Risley Alumni Scholarship (2021) 
• Community Service Scholarship (2020)
• Spellman Achievement Award for Distinguished Leadership (2019)  
• Helena Whitaker Scholarship Recipient (2018 & 2019)
• Threads Writing Award Winner and Publication “Embracing an Invisible Home: Five Years as a Refugee”  (2017)