Liza Fiol-Matta

Dr. Liza Fiol-Matta is the Dean of the William J. Maxwell College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies. Prior to becoming Dean in 2002, Dr. Fiol-Matta chaired the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at NJCU. A member of the NJCU community since 1999, she previously was a faculty member at both Hostos Community College and LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York, where she was an Associate Professor of English. Dr. Fiol-Matta holds a Ph.D. in Critical Literary and Cultural Studies from The Union Institute and University (1996), an M.A. degree in English Literature from the University of Puerto Rico (1981), and a B.A. in English from Sacred Heart University in Santurce, Puerto Rico (1974).

Dr. Fiol-Matta is an active member of the National Women’s Studies Association and served as Vice President of the association in 2005-2006. She is a founding member of the Puerto Rican Studies Association and was elected to its first Governing Council. Her book, Women of Color and the Multicultural Curriculum: Transforming the College Classroom (Feminist Press, 1994), coauthored with Mariam K. Chamberlain, received the Gustavus Myers Center award as Outstanding Book on the Subject of Human Rights in North America. A second book, Telling to Live: Latina Feminist Testimonios, coauthored with the members of the Latina Feminist Group, also received a Gustavus Myers Center Human Rights and Bigotry award in 2001. Dr. Fiol-Matta also co-edited, with Myrna Goldenberg, a focused issue of Women’s Studies Quarterly (Fall/Winter 1996) titled Curriculum Transformation in Community Colleges: Focus on Introductory Courses.

Dr. Fiol-Matta is the author of several articles on teaching and pedagogy, including “Teaching in Puerto Rican Tongues: A Report from the Space In-Between,” “The Community College in the U.S.: A Profile of Innovation and Change,” “Writing the Self in a Changing World.” and “De ‘yerbas malas,’ la diáspora boricua y la isla caribeña.” Her poetry has appeared in several journals in Puerto Rico and the U.S., including The Peace Review and Callaloo. Most recently, her essay, “Beyond Survival: A Politics/Poetics of Puerto Rican Consciousness,” was reprinted in Word: On Being a [Woman] Writer (Feminist Press, 2004). Dr. Fiol-Matta’s research interests include curriculum transformation in higher education; Latina/o identity and politics; critical cultural studies with a focus on race, class, ethnicity, and gender; and the literature of Latinas/os in the United States.