Professor Melanie Hernandez (English) has been accepted as a summer research fellow with LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections at the University of Texas at Austin. She will work with their collections on artists and authors Carmen Lomas Garza, Americo Paredes, and Jovita González, and she will apply her studies to the development of the new Engl 144 course, Masterpieces of Chicanx Literature, which will be offered in fall 2018. Dr. Hernandez also received a travel grant from the Palestinian American Research Center to participate in a two-week faculty development seminar this summer in Jerusalem. She will travel with a group of 10 scholars from U.S. institutions for a two-week visit at Palestinian universities, research institutes, and cultural institutions, including tours of historic sites and roundtable meetings with Palestinian scholars.