International Scholar Exchange

Dr. Andrea Herrera

In the spring of 2020, Andrea Herrera was selected to participate in an international scholar exchange funded by the Polish Government and the European Union. The grant, which was originally to be administered in May of 2020, was postponed due to the covid pandemic. Last May and June of 2023, Andrea was finally able to travel to Poland to complete the grant. The NAWA Grant (trans. National Agency for Academic Exchange) fosters intellectual exchange among nations with the aim of giving American scholars the opportunity to share their expertise outside the United States and, in turn, to learn about the educational system and various pedagogical approaches in a foreign country.

As part of the grant project, Andrea was required to invite a doctoral student with whom she was advising/working to join her. She invited Madelina Nuňez, who is currently matriculating in American Studies withing the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University. As part of the NAWA Grant, Andrea co-coordinated what has become an annual virtual event titled Latinx Day. It featured colleagues from universities across Poland, as well as WEST’s own specialist in Latinx Studies Dr. Julie Torres. (Andrea is currently working with her Polish counterparts to expand Latinx Day to include colleagues from across Spain.)

During her three-week stay in Poland, Andrea participated in a round table discussion with Ms. Nuňez, titled kitchen table talks, regarding intergenerational Cuban cultural identity formation in the diaspora. In addition to giving guest lectures in several undergraduate and graduate classes, she also gave several public lectures and readings and facilitated a range of workshops at the University of Warsaw, the John Paul Catholic University, and the Marie Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin.

As part of the grant, Dr. Herrera also traveled to Larnaca, Cyprus to participate on a panel at the MESEA conference (The Society for Multi-Ethnic Studies: Europe and the Americas), which focused on the theme of cosmopolitanism. Finally, as part of the NAWA Grant, Ewa Antoszek—a colleague and former doctoral student of Herrera’s from Marie Curie-Skłodowska University—travelled to Colorado in July 2022 to work with Andrea on a special project that focuses on artivism and Chicano/a/x border art.