Main Speaker: 
Louis Mendoza is an also Associate Vice Provost in the Office for Equity and Diversity. Originally from Houston, Texas,  he received his Ph.D. in English with a concentration in Ethnic and Third World Literatures from the University of Texas at Austin. Before coming to the University of Minnesota to chair the Department of Chicano Studies (2004-2007), Louis taught at the University of Texas at San Antonio where he was an associate dean in the College of Liberal and Fine Arts and Interim Director of the Hispanic Research Center. His research interests include Chicana/o Literary and Cultural studies, U.S. immigration literature, prison literature, and oral histories. Louis is currently working on two books related to his 2007 Journey Across Our America research project on U.S. Latina/o communities that he conducted while bicycling around the perimeter of the country.