Peguero Appointed as Contributor to Library of Congress

A professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point has been appointed by the Library of Congress as one of the 130 contributing editors from around the world who choose works for a guide of materials published on Latin America.

Valentina Peguero (pictured at left) will review works about the Hispanic Caribbean countries of Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico for the Library of Congress Handbook of Latin American Studies.  The Handbook has been published continuously since 1936 and is available in an up-to-date online version or in print and CD-ROM.

Peguero also will travel to Washington D.C. occasionally to serve as the library’s consultant in her field of expertise, which includes Latin American and Caribbean history and culture, particularly race and ethnicity, Latin American and Caribbean women, and Dominican political and military history.

Editors for the Library of Congress must be established scholars whose record of publications gives them national and international prominence. The library’s editorial board and other contributors submit candidates to an advisory board for consideration. Peguero was unaware that her name had been submitted.

"Since this appointment to some extent reflects on UWSP’s faculty accomplishments, I am honored and grateful to serve," says Peguero. "I look forward to the opportunity to publicize deserving works and authors that might not otherwise receive the recognition that they deserve."

She also feels honored to work in collaboration with the other distinguished scholars who review for the handbook the approximately 5,000 books, articles, conferences, papers, book chapters, CD-ROMs and Web sites that are published in several languages each year.

After completing her doctorate at Columbia University, in New York City, Peguero came to UWSP in 1990 and has been recognized for outstanding teaching. Currently working on a study of Japanese immigration to the Dominican Republic which she began with a fellowship at the Institute for Research in the Humanities at UW-Madison, she recently published a book on the militarization of the culture of the Dominican Republic under General Rafael Trujillo and has an article in the book, Caribbean Societies and Globalization.

She also is the co-author of a Spanish textbook on the history of the Dominican Republic in its 15th printing and has had articles on race, politics and gender appear in both English and Spanish in books, journals and conference proceedings in the Dominican Republic, United States, Peru and Spain.

Click here for a list of works by Dr. Peguero that are held by the University Library.

Article and photo courtesy of UWSP News services.