Spotlight: Jose B Gonzalez

It is with great pleasure that we announce our Banquet guest speaker: Jose B Gonzalez!! We welcome Jose with big open arms as he has been completely enthusiastic in regards to attending this event as well as the efforts and initiatives we are representing in holding the event. Gracias Jose for all of your kind words and encouragement for our event. Check out his biography below from http://latinostories.com/About_Us.htm  and search him on youtube!

Jose B. Gonzalez was born in San Salvador, El Salvador, and immigrated to New London, Connecticut at the age of eight. He has been the recipient of such honors as the 2009 American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education Outstanding Latino Faculty of the Year Award, Connecticut's Higher Education Multicultural Faculty of the Year Award and has published poetry in such journals as Callaloo, The Teacher's Voice, Palabra, Acentos Review, Calabash and Colere, and anthologies including Coloring Book, Nantucket: A Collection, and Latino Boom: An Anthology of U.S. Latino Literature, which he also co-edited. His work was most recently included in a special edition of OCHO featuring Latino poets. He was the recipient of the 2006 Poet of the Year Award presented by the New England Association of Teachers of English. In addition, he has contributed critical and nonfiction essays to such journals as New England Quarterly and to National Public Radio. He has been featured in the nationally syndicated show, American Latino TV and Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education.

Jose infuses his presentations with a mix of poetry, humor, and social commentary. He holds a Master’s in Teaching in English from Brown University and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Rhode Island. He has presented at various conferences, schools and colleges such as Yale University, Harvard University, Wright State University, University of Connecticut, Eastern Connecticut State University, Connecticut College, Boston College, and he has been keynote speaker for a number of Hispanic Heritage Month events. He is currently a Professor of English at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.

-Anne & Yizary :)