Edna Acosta-Belén, PhD

Distinguished Professor Emerita
Latin American, Caribbean, and US Latino Studies

Edna Acosta-Belén is a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY. Her research areas include Latina/o and Puerto Rican cultural and historical studies. Among her more recent publications is the book, Puerto Ricans in the United States: A Contemporary Portrait (second edition 2018; with C.E. Santiago), and various chapters and articles on the establishment and evolution of Puerto Rican Studies scholarship and pedagogy at U.S. institutions of higher education, and the historical and cultural development of the Puerto Rican diaspora. She was Director of the Center for Latino, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies (CELAC) at the University at Albany for many years, as well as co-founder and Editor of the Latino(a) Research Review (1994-2012). She co-directed several faculty development and graduate student training projects, funded by the Ford Foundation, aimed at integrating women of color into the curriculum and research, and at incorporating global perspectives into women’s studies. She received her doctoral degree from Columbia University and was a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton and Yale universities, as well as a Visiting Professor at Cornell University.