Professor emeritus granted national mentoring award

Alberto Sandoval-Sánchez, professor emeritus of Spanish, was recently granted the inaugural Ricardo Ortiz Mentoring Award from the Latino/a/x Studies Association (LSA). Sandoval-Sánchez was cited for his “role in establishing the Latina/o Studies Program [at Mount Holyoke College] and in co-founding the New England Consortium of Latina/o Studies, a mentoring collective that has fostered scholarship in our field and offered a space for home and belonging to Latinx scholars in the New England region and across generations.”

Sandoval-Sánchez began teaching at Mount Holyoke in 1983 and retired in 2015. He is the author of the book “José, Can You See: Latinos On and Off Broadway” and co-editor of “Puro Teatro: A Latina Anthology.”

David Hernández, associate professor of Latina/o Studies and Critical Race and Political Economy at Mount Holyoke, said he “could not be happier about Alberto’s well- and long-deserved mentorship award. Having served on these award committees for other associations, it’s very difficult for scholars at liberal arts colleges to be recognized, often because of the lack of graduate students. But, in Alberto’s long and distinguished career, he still supported his share of graduate students in theater and performance studies and in Latina/o/x Studies.”

Hernández continued, “More importantly, in 2011, Alberto founded the New England Consortium for Latina/o Studies (NECLS) with Mari Castañeda and Mérida Rúa, which developed into a substantive engine of peer mentorship among junior and senior Latina/o/x scholars stretching from Yale and Vassar to Binghamton and Buffalo. For me personally, NECLS was a lifeline professionally and culturally, as I was a transplant from California. Mount Holyoke College hosted the very first pair of NECLS day-long conferences in 2011 and 2012, and Vanessa Rosa and I planned the second pair several years later in 2017 and 2018 at MHC, with the evening celebration at none other than Alberto’s home in South Hadley.” 

Vanessa Rosa, associate professor of Latinx Studies and Critical Race and Political Economy at Mount Holyoke, was also effusive in her praise for Sandoval-Sánchez. 

“One of the highlights of teaching my Latina Feminism class in the spring of 2018 was inviting Alberto to join us for lunch at El Rincón in Holyoke. During that gathering, he facilitated a conversation about the legacy of Latina feminist theory,” she recalled. “Alberto connected with each student in the class, engaging them thoughtfully and drawing them into a rich intergenerational dialogue about scholarship, activism and epistemology.”

She continued, “Moments like this reflect the enduring impact of Alberto’s work. His mentorship extends far beyond the classroom, shaping not only individual careers but also the intellectual and political communities his students go on to build. Through his generosity, vision and unwavering commitment to mentoring, Alberto has helped cultivate generations of scholars who carry his legacy forward.”

Named in honor of the late Ricardo Ortiz, who died suddenly in 2025, the award recognizes mentoring as a central aspect of Latina/x/o Studies. Professor Sandoval- Sánchez was recognized on Thursday, March 26, during the presidential address at the LSA conference in Austin, Texas.