Marisol Cuong | Department of Literature

Marisol Cuong is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Literature Department Spanish Section at the University of California, San Diego. She completed her B.A in Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Berkeley and earned her MA in Literature at UCSD. Before starting graduate studies, Marisol worked for a non-profit charter school that helps non-traditional minority students that were teenage mothers, formerly incarcerated, and/or undocumented. Through such experiences she embraces community knowledge through femtorships, teach-ins, and advocacy. At UCSD, Marisol has taught Spanish Literature and Language classes in both the literature and linguistics department. Additionally, she has held Associate- In positions teaching Critical Gender Studies and Ethnic Studies courses that center the issues of race, class, and gender geared toward Latine communities. Marisol’s dissertation Witnessing: The Fragmented Reality of Militarization and Displacement of Latine Communities examines where and how violence is created, condoned, and reproduced to juxtapose a domestic war and a legacy of imperialism through the militarization of communities of color. Marisol Cuong was born and raised in Los Angeles, California her upbringing defined her interests in immigration and violence against women. She is motivated to become the first in her family to graduate from a doctoral program.  

Matthew Ehrlich | Department of History

Matthew Ehrlich is a Ph.D. candidate in the History Department at UC San Diego. He attended California community college for four years before transferring to Hofstra University for his BA in History and Spanish. After working as a restaurant cook for several years in Vermont and New York, he attended Tufts University for an MA in Global History. His dissertation focuses on nineteenth-century Spanish nationalism through the lens of race, slavery, and colonialism during the Cuban wars of independence from 1868-1898. He has worked as a teaching assistant for the Making of the Modern World program for several years, as well as a summer instructor for the History Department. As a lifelong hard-of-hearing individual who has struggled with ADHD and other learning disabilities since childhood, his personal experiences as a student provide the basis for his advocacy for accessibility as an instructor. In addition, over a decade of continuing research into the legacies of inequality and intolerance make him a passionate critic of institutional oppression in all forms; commitments he pursues outside the classroom as a labor organizer, founding member of the Dollar Lunch Club, a UCSD mutual-aid initiative to address food insecurity, and Vice President of a living-history (“reenactment”) organization dedicated to combating white supremacy and gender- and sexuality-based discrimination within the field of interpretive public history. He is thrilled to return to his community college roots to work with new generations of students in building equitable, diverse, and inclusive classrooms and communities.

Andrea Zelaya | Department of Literature

Andrea Zelaya is a scholar, researcher, educator, writer, artist, translator, and cultural activist. A Central American immigrant, her cultural heritage and background inform her creative, academic, and social justice endeavors. She received her MA in Literature from the University of California, San Diego and her BA in both English and Spanish Literature from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi with minors in Latin American Studies and History, as well as a TESOL certification. She has served as a pro bono translator for various non-profit organizations and immigrant communities in South Texas. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Literature at the University of California, San Diego. Her research interests include 20th & 21st century Latin American literature, with a special emphasis on Central America. Her theoretical interests include decolonial feminisms and theories of fragments, temporalities, bodies, and social space. Her creative work and current research center around themes of fragmentation, trauma, and memory of postwar Central America. She has published fiction and poetry in both English and Spanish. Some of her cross-disciplinary interests include art, cultural studies, history, psychology, architecture, music, film, mental health, neurodivergence, disability studies, and linguistics. As a Mellon PATH IFI fellow and a community college graduate and transfer student herself, Andrea looks forward to contributing to, supporting, and learning from the students, faculty, and administrators at the San Diego Community College District.