Gender and Women Studies and Chicanx/e & Latinx/e Studies professor Aurora Santiago Ortiz is spearheading UW Madison’s new Puerto Rican Studies Hub along with History professor Jorell Meléndez-Badillo!
The first center of its kind in the Midwest, the Hub will educate the public and enrich conversations on campus and in the community about Puerto Rico and its diaspora. The Hub’s inaugural event attracted some 200 people to the Great Hall in Memorial Union and featured an interactive performance by Los Pleneros de La Cresta, in which audience members took up traditional drums and joined the group to play plena music. The Hub brings together historians, artists, students, and community members through lectures, performances, fellowships, and collaborative programming.
There is a “Interrogating the Future of Puerto Rican Studies” symposium scheduled for April 23-24 at the Pyle Center: Stay tuned for more public programming!
For more information about the Puerto Rican Studies Hub, read this article featured on UW’s news.