Anadeli Bencomo appointed Associate Dean of Faculty and Research

Professor of Hispanic Studies and Fulbright Scholar steps into new role immediately

Dr. Anadeli Bencomo, Professor of Hispanic Studies, has been appointed Associate Dean of Faculty and Research for the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

“I am very pleased that Anadeli Bencomo has accepted my offer to become the new Associate Dean of Faculty and Research, effective immediately,” said Steven G. Craig, interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

“Dr. Bencomo brings a lot of energy to the job,” he said. “She is a knowledgeable researcher, and she should be of great assistance at continuing to promote effective research and scholarship within our College.”

Dr. Bencomo served as chair and graduate studies director of the Department of Hispanic Studies. She was a founding director of the UH Center for Teaching Excellence. She also is a recipient of the UH Teaching Excellence Award.

A critical theory, literary and cultural studies scholar, Dr. Bencomo was awarded a Core Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant. She spent the 2013- 14 academic year as a Fulbright Scholar conducting research in Mexico on the emerging literary field called narco-narrative.

Dr. Bencomo’s research has found that Mexico is portrayed by national and international journalists as a country devastated by drug trafficking, organized crime and corruption of elected and law enforcement officials. By working in Mexico she was able to comb through journalistic and literary writings published in the Mexican Chronicle and other primary news sources to separate urban legend from fact.

Dr. Bencomo has presented her findings at national and international conferences in her field and been an invited lecturer in Mexico, Venezuela, and Germany.

Dr. Bencomo received her B.A. and M.A. in Latin American Literature from the Universidad Simón Bolívar in Venezuela and a Ph.D. in Latin American Literature from the University of Pittsburgh. The author of two published books and editor of two volumes, she regularly writes book reviews for the cultural magazine, Literal.

- Shannon Buggs