Dr. Cruz Ríos has a BA and an MA in comparative literature from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. While pursuing her doctoral studies, she became interested in the examination of hemispheric and transnational Latinidad through literature, popular culture, and digital narratives. She earned a PhD in American studies from Indiana University, Bloomington, in June 2018, with her dissertation Negotiating a Hemispheric Latinidad: Latin American Representations of Latinx in the U.S.
Dr. Cruz Ríos has a diverse teaching experience in higher education, both in synchronous and asynchronous learning. She has taught a plurality of courses that expand across several academic fields: from composition and literature to popular culture and American studies. Her classes are interdisciplinary and innovative, aimed to develop students’ knowledge and awareness about themselves and about the world they live in, as well as their analytical and argumentative skills. Dr. Cruz Ríos is committed to fostering diversity and inclusion in her classroom, and she designs all of her courses with these goals in mind. Her working projects include a manuscript to submit for publication about the articulation of latinidad in mobile communication, one on UX and “bad websites,” and another about identity through memes and emojis.
Dr. Cruz Ríos is currently working in tech, and is invested in end-user instruction, the importance of documentation, AI, and digital humanities.