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Melanie Pérez Ortiz
Full Professor
University of Puerto Rico
Location : San Juan, ,
Specialization: Professor at The University of Puerto Rico
Education: Stanford University
Ma. Latin American Literature (1994), Ph.D. Contemporary Latin American Literature (1999)
1993-1999

University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
Hispanic Studies
1986-1991

Industry: Writing and Editing
Year of Experience : 16-20 Years

Biography

Melanie went to Stanford University and received her Doctoral and Masters Degree in Contemporary Latin American Literature--the latest in 1999, after finishing her dissertation with a Whiting Dissertation Fellowship, and the recognition of an Honorary Mention from the Ford Foundation. At the University of Puerto Rico, she received her Bachelors Degree in Hispanic Studies in 1991, Magna Cum Laude. Melanie said her experiences at both schools were, while exiting and difficult, the most meaningful in shaping the adult she is now. In particular, she recognized her time at Stanford University, where she was exposed to a world-class institution and the types of challenges it implies, an achievement she owes only to herself since her upbringing was poor and without economic support for intellectual entrepreneurship. Melanie is a Full Professor at the University of Puerto Rico and has been an educator for the past seventeen years. She divides her time between teaching, administrative service and research. She has directed the Program of Inter-disciplinary Studies from the School of Humanities, where she created with other colleagues the area of study in Creative Writing. She has collaborated with the organization of the Festival de la Palabra, an important literary festival that happens yearly in Puerto Rico. She has produced ad co-hosted two different radio programs that aired through the Public Radio Station (Radio Universidad de Puerto Rico), in which Books and Interdisciplinary culture were discussed weekly. She organized two Conferences on Caribbean Science Fiction that took place at the University of Puerto Rico during the Fall of 2014 and 2015. She has published both, academic and creative work, among which, "Palabras encontradas. Antología personal de escritores puertorriqueños de los últimos 20 años" (Callejón, 2008); prologue and notes to the second edition of the novel "La patografía", by Ángel Lozada, (San Juan: Trabalis July, 2017); she edited a special number of "La Torre," a prestigious jornal with Interdisciplinary views on culture. The argument of the Special number was Caribbean Science Fiction. In 2015 she published both a poetry book titled "Catálogo de cuerpos" (Trabalis) and a chronicle that tells the story and reflections on her travels to Cuba in 1994 and 2014, titled "Espejos". Melanie was raised in a low income family and went back to Puerto Rico to be a professor in her native country because social responsibility is an important aspect of her work. She feels that it is important to share her experiences from Stanford, and help citizens in Puerto Rico in the search of happiness. Melanie is in love with Puerto Rican culture. In the next three to five years Melanie will finish her book-length academic essay on contemporary Puerto Rican Literature titled, "La revolución de las apetencias; Los cadáveres de los que nos alimentamos". She will also publish a new poetry book. She currently formally studying a Masters Degree in Translation and has plans to move to the Northern Italy region by the Summer of 2018.