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Recent RCL Alumni and Faculty Journal Articles
It is difficult to summarize the ways in which Professor Frederick Aldama has impacted diversity in the English Department and at Ohio State. His scholarship in Latino/a Studies has resulted in six books and numerous articles. He serves as the diversity officer for the English Department, the chair of the Department's Diversity and Affirmative Action Committee, and Director of Latino/a Studies. His recruitment efforts have brought minority faculty and students to the university. And he recently organized a conference on multi-cultural narratives and narrative theory. For his efforts, Professor Aldama was recently awarded the university-wide Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Award. The award, for individuals or groups who have demonstrated a significant commitment to enhancing diversity at Ohio State, comes with a plaque and a $1200 honorarium.
Professor Aldama, who earned his Ph.D. in English from Stanford University, developed LASER: Latino and Latin American Studies Space of Enrichment and Research, a space for undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and visiting scholars to learn from each other's research on Latino/a Studies. LASER will be housed in Smith Laboratory. He was instrumental in the hiring of Professor Adeleke Adeeko in English, Professor Guisela Latorre in Women's Studies, and Professor Theresa Delgadillo in Comparative Studies. And his frequent trips to universities across the nation have brought minority graduate students to Ohio State, including Ph.D. student, Tiffany Anderson.
"When people ask me how I came to choose Ohio State I say that Ohio State chose me, and Frederick Aldama was the university's ambassador," said Anderson. "I would not be at Ohio State if it were not for Professor Aldama and his commitment to diversification. Since my arrival, Professor Aldama remains interested in my progress and strengthens his legacy through the attentive training of future scholars who share with him the desire for a more diverse academy."
The praise for Professor Aldama's efforts is enthusiastic and plentiful. In her letter of nomination, English Professor Susan Williams said "[Aldama's] work has been central to the formation of Latino/a literary studies as a vibrant field, as he has shepherded a range of primary texts into print, making them available to a wider audience."
Professor Aldama's tireless work in diversity has been noted by all in the English Department. "Professor Aldama does not engage in conversations extolling the value of diversity," wrote English Department Chair Valerie Lee in the closing paragraph of her nomination letter. "He assumes diversity to be foundational to academic excellence, proves it with his own record of stellar scholarship, and interweaves it into a range of curricular, service, and research activities."
