The Department of Ethnic Studies UC Berkeley

Award-winning writer, scholar, and PhD alum of Berkeley Ethnic Studies, Dr. Yomaira Figueroa ’14, has been appointed the next Director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College (CENTRO)! Yomaira will be joining CUNY as a Full Professor of African American, Puerto Rican & Latino Studies in July.

Founded in 1973 by a coalition of students, faculty, and activists, the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College (CENTRO) is the largest and oldest university-based research institute, library, and archive dedicated to the Puerto Rican experience in the United States. It provides support to students, scholars, artists, and members of the community at large across and beyond New York. Additionally, it produces original research, films, books, and educational tools and is the home of The Centro Journal—the premiere academic journal of Puerto Rican Studies. CENTRO’s aim is to create actionable and accessible scholarship to strengthen, broaden, and reimagine the field of Puerto Rican studies.

Huge congratulations, Yomaira, from your Ethnic Studies fam!