New CLCS Program Director to Serve as Reviewer for Prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program

Erika Almenara, associate professor of Spanish and new director of the Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies Program, has been invited to serve as a member of a peer review committee for applications received for the Fulbright U.S. Program (2025-26) competition.

The Fulbright Program is the world’s largest and most diverse international educational exchange program. It is devoted to increasing mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Fulbright alumni have become heads of state, judges, ambassadors, as well as leading journalists, artists, scientists and teachers.

Almenara, who specializes in modern and contemporary Latin American cultural production, as well as women’s, gender and sexuality studies, was granted a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award in 2022 to conduct research in Peru for her second book. Grounded in feminist, cuir/queer and post-colonial theory, Literary and Cultural Representations of Social Gender Perception in Post-Conflict Peru looks at the way the social perception of gender has been modified in Peru in the end of the conflict between the state and the Communist Party of Peru, Shining Path.

Almenara considers the Fulbright Program a valuable opportunity for students and colleagues to advance research and cultural exchange. She invites everyone to apply to the several awards the program offers. As the new director of the Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies Program, Almenara plans to activate the Fulbright Scholar in Residence Program within CLCS.

This program implies Fulbright Program supporting the U of A bringing an international scholar for a semester or a full year. This will give CLCS information about the work that is being done in other institutions. It will also give visibility to the CLCS program, the university, internationalization and procure connections with local and foreign institutions for future collaborations among our students and teachers.

This story also appeared in the University of Arkansas News publication.