Nilsa Maldonado Méndez
Senior Lecturer of Spanish Language

Nilsa Maldonado Méndez has been teaching at Cornell University since fall 1995. She has a B.A. in English from the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus, as well as an M.S. in Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany. She taught ESL in Puerto Rico for five years and later returned to Albany to obtain a Ph.D. in Spanish. The title of her dissertation was "Estructuras de poder en la obra de Ana Lydia Vega: Acercamiento foucaultiano-feminista" (chair: Dr. Edna Acosta-Belén, SUNY at Albany).

Her interests include feminism and religion in Spanish-speaking countries, teaching Spanish to heritage speakers, history, and women writers in the Spanish-speaking Americas. She is a member of LASA and ACTFL.

RECENT COURSES

Intermediate Composition and Conversation (SPAN 2090 and SPAN 2190)
Spanish for Heritage Speakers (SPAN 2000/LSP 2020)
Continuing Spanish (SPAN 1230)