Spartanburg
FY2025– Present
Araceli Hernández-Laroche (UC Berkeley PhD) speaks four languages and is USC Upstate Professor of Modern Languages and founding director of the academic center South Carolina Centro Latino. Its pillars are Latinx Interdisciplinary Studies, Civic Leadership, and the multilingual Public Humanities. Araceli has several publications, including with the Cambridge University Press Journal of Public Humanities and the co-edited PMLA Special Topics on The Theories and Methodologies of Public Humanities. Araceli served as the co-president of the Association of Department of Languages, Executive Committee, and on the Modern Language Association (MLA) Ad Hoc Committee Valuing the Public Humanities. SC Humanities recognized her as 2023 Akers Prize winner for using culture and history to bring people together. 2020 SC Career Woman of the Year, 2024 Woman of Influence, 2024 Advocate of the Year, and Top 12 Most Influential Women in the Southeast are examples of other distinctions. She has participated in leadership programs through her service to several local, statewide, national, and transnational boards and committees.
