As an associate professor of history and Latinx and Latin American studies, Puerto built a life and a curriculum deeply rooted in the Highland Park community
Alexandra Puerto came to academia later than most. “I went to graduate school and I started teaching in my early 30s,” says Puerto, who joined Occidental as an adjunct lecturer in Latin American history in 2004 and was recently awarded emerita status as an associate professor of history and Latinx and Latin American studies. “I was at Oxy long enough to retire, but still young enough to have a last chapter.”
Nine months into her new role at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor—more about that below—Puerto cites a distinct difference between the two schools after 20 years in Eagle Rock. “At Oxy, like at most places, you can never turn off during the semester,” she says. There's always more papers to grade and more deliverables to produce. At Michigan, my day really does end at 5. I can't remember one year at Oxy where I wasn't working most weekends during the semester.”
When Puerto and her husband moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2001, “I did not know that much about Occidental,” she says. “We had just bought our first house ever anywhere in Highland Park. I was getting acclimated to being a new mom and to Northeast L.A.” (Time flies: Their son is now a senior history major at Amherst College in Massachusetts and wants “nothing” to do with academia, Puerto says—“He’s really interested in working for cultural institutions or museums.”)
When Occidental advertised for an opening in Latin American history, the College’s proximity and “the opportunity to be creative in the classroom” appealed to Puerto. “One thing led to another and before I knew it, I had been there 20 years.”
Prior to the arrival of Puerto, Lisa Sousa (a colonial Latin Americanist) had been teaching the full spectrum of Latin American history. But there was such demand for those courses that Oxy’s History Department was given the green light to hire a second full-time Latin Americanist in 2006. Buoyed by strong teaching evaluations, Puerto landed the job. “It was rare for a liberal arts college to have a dedicated modern Latin Americanist,” she says, “but it gave Lisa and me an opportunity to develop a really interesting Latin American history curriculum with both depth and breadth.”
Puerto developed courses across multiple levels: lower-division surveys, upper-division seminars, first-year seminars, even an environmental justice course for Oxy’s Multicultural Summer Institute (MSI) with colleagues Regina Freer (politics) and Bhavna Shamasunder (urban and environmental policy). “MSI was also the first and only time I co-taught. And so to be learning from my colleagues and with such purpose in serving our MSI students is certainly a highlight.” She also developed strong working relationships with the Center for Community-Based Learning, the International Programs Office, and the Intercultural Community Center. “My collaborations with those three units really made me a much better teacher.”
Community-based learning became a cornerstone of her teaching. “I didn't just teach at Oxy, I was completely embedded in the Highland Park community for 23 years,” Puerto says. “The courses I was able to develop were mostly in the field of environmental studies, always with the historical frame first.” Whether it was partnering with Debs Park or working on local oral histories such as Clinica Romero, an organization founded in 1983 to address the mental health needs of Salvadoran civil war refugees in Los Angeles, “Studying migrant health or environmental justice through those methods and pedagogies is what most excited me about teaching at Oxy.”
Together with Mariška Bolyanatz Brown, associate professor of Spanish and French studies, Puerto shepherded the Occidental College Latino Alumni Association (OCLAA) oral history project in 2023. “That was a real labor of love for me and for Andrea Cova-Bernal ’08, who was OCLAA president at the time,” Puerto says. “We had dreamed about such a project for a couple of years—and I met Andrea at the beginning of my career at Oxy. For us to come around full circle in that way and to be able to pursue and execute that project was so meaningful. I hope it will continue. There's so many great stories to be heard.”
In the wake of COVID and the “existential crisis” that accompanied it, Puerto began to think about opportunities beyond Los Angeles. “Because of my experiences chairing departments, both history and YAS at Oxy because of the work I did in my role as faculty director for MSI, the work as co-principal investigator in Humanities in Just Communities. I really enjoyed program management, curriculum development, and became rather obsessed with high impact practices in undergraduate education. So, I knew that any kind of next step might be related to some sort of director role in undergraduate education.
In 2024, she found that next step. Puerto read a job ad for the University of Michigan “that just spoke to me. I had been to Ann Arbor 21 years earlier, and I knew a couple of the faculty here at Michigan and always held the university in high regard.” After a lengthy interview process and multiple trips, she made the decision to move after 33 years in the Golden State, and now Puerto is assistant dean for undergraduate education and curriculum in the College of Literature, Sciences, and the Arts (LSA) at Michigan.
With 20,000 students, LSA is the largest of 19 colleges at the university, which has a total enrollment of about 53,000. “The scale is huge, but everything that I learned at Oxy is what is helping me have success here at LSA,” Puerto says. “It prepared me so well because we are a liberal arts college within this huge university.”
Her portfolio is extensive. “Everything having to deal with undergraduate education academically, including academic support services programs and opportunities are housed in this division,” she says. Puerto supervises the curriculum office in LSA, which processes up to 1,000 course proposals per year as well as countless program proposals. She also chairs the race and ethnicity requirement subcommittee and oversees the Applied Liberal Arts curriculum, an experiential learning program.
She is energized by the challenge. “It’s a real joy to be able to work with an exceptionally talented group of people who are so committed to undergraduate education," Puerto says. "I’m learning so much—it’s a steep learning curve and I haven't even been here a full year.”
What does she miss about Oxy most? “I miss the students and developing really deep and long-term relationships with them,” Puerto says, noting she still keeps in touch with many of her former mentees. “That’s not something I'm going to experience in my new job.”
Oh, and one other thing: “I also really miss the trees on campus. Ann Arbor has so many different kinds of trees, but there’s something about those coast live oaks on the Quad and walking every morning through the olive trees on the main pathway through the main entrance and the jacarandas in bloom in the spring. I think about those trees often. They’re so Oxy—so beautiful.”
Siana Park-Pearson ’24: Like most of my social interactions in 2020, I met Professor Puerto through a screen: sat in my childhood bedroom, staring back at a small group of similarly scared-looking freshmen, anxiously trying to make a good first impression while also paying attention to our first day of instruction for the Multicultural Summer Institute (MSI). I remember Professor Puerto’s warmth beaming through that blue light, a brief introduction and a comforting smile saying that, despite our turbulent start to college, everything would be okay.
In my three summers and four school years following MSI, I continued working with Professor Puerto. I took her class on Food and Drink in Mexican History, helped with her First Year Seminar on Food, Race, and Migration as an Education in Action (EIA) facilitator, and, in a gratifying full-circle moment, served as a resident advisor for the MSI summer 2023 cohort under her leadership as faculty director.
All these opportunities allowed me to observe Professor Puerto’s impressive reach on campus, both in written name as the director, head, or advisor of more than a handful of departments and programs, and in not-so-whispered words of admiration from students, faculty, and staff of all tenures. She is loved and respected not just because of all the hats she juggles with consistent dedication, but because she treats everyone she works with as a person. I read and wrote countless papers in her classes, but she also taught people to learn by seeking connection with others, exploring the world around us, and, like her, becoming a lifelong student. She granted me countless lessons which continue to shape me and my future. Despite being separated now by thousands of miles, I know I will carry those, and her, with me always. I am grateful to be able to call Professor Puerto not just a teacher and mentor, but also a friend.
Siana Park-Pearson ’24 is the Farm to Classroom Project Coordinator at the Center for Community Food and Resilience, a project of Oxy’s Urban and Environmental Policy Institute.
Roxana Castro ’09: Entering Professor Puerto's class as a freshman was a transformative experience that set me on a path of cultural exploration and sparked a lifelong curiosity. My first class with Puerto was my freshman writing seminar, titled "Mexican Borderlands." It challenged me to analyze complex and controversial politics and ideas with Professor Puerto's characteristic grace and calming voice. For the first time in my education, my personal experiences and culture were centered as historical topics worth discussing. The teachings I received at Oxy and in Professor Puerto's class continue to resonate with me amidst the current political climate and events, giving me hope that our country can find a way to bridge the divisions that plague us.
Thanks to Professor Puerto, I discovered my love for history, which ignited an interest in exploring my own culture and the cultures of Latin America. My positive experiences led me to switch from a biology major to a degree in Spanish literature with an emphasis on culture and history. Through Professor Puerto's guidance, I learned to appreciate my own culture and those of others, fostering a hunger to uncover the beauty and untold stories of the people from those regions. My experiences in her classes shape how, where I travel, and how I interact with the world. More importantly, these experiences greatly influenced my philosophy as a Spanish dual immersion teacher in diverse Los Angeles, where I strive to affirm my students' linguistic expression and cultural identity.
I am incredibly grateful to have had Professor Puerto cross my path; she has shaped the framework of my identity and helped me become a version of myself that had lain dormant within me. With heartfelt appreciation, I wish you adventure, fulfillment, and joy in your next chapter! Con mucho cariño.
A Spanish language and literature major at Oxy, Roxana Castro ’09 is a Spanish teacher at Sequoyah School in Pasadena.
Sofie Brown ’21: In her courses, Professor Puerto inspired intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, and long-lasting engagement with history. I was fortunate to take three classes with Professor Puerto during my time at Oxy and am extremely lucky to have had her as my mentor. In the classroom, Puerto created an atmosphere of camaraderie and promoted dynamic exchanges of ideas, making each student feel valued for their contributions. As we discussed topics –such as the historical memory evoked in the popular rendition of “El derecho de vivir en paz” (by artist Víctor Jara) during the 2019 Chilean estallido social (national strike) and the creation of histories from the bottom-up– Professor Puerto pushed us to critically examine history and, as budding scholars, recognize the influence of our cultural relativism.
Some of my favorite memories at Oxy include going to Professor Puerto’s office hours. There, we would engage in our “charlas” (chats). From discussing the not-so-black-and-white image of Evo Morales to Bad Bunny’s performance of gender, these discussions fostered my intellectual interests, shaping my academic identity as a Latin Americanist. During these charlas, I also asked numerous questions, ranging from course subjects to future career possibilities. As a recent Oxy graduate, Professor Puerto guided me through the application process for graduate school and gave advice on how to make my final decision. I am forever grateful for her kindness and generosity.
The practice of interrogating the past and its legacies is now a perennial interest of mine. As a scholar, I study the representation of history and memory in contemporary Latin American literature and am able to build on the solid foundation of historiography that I developed in Professor Puerto’s courses.
Alexandra Puerto’s dedication to Occidental and its students has been inspiring. From her roles as faculty director of the Multicultural Summer Institute, co-coordinator of the Humanities for Just Communities, and professor of First-Year Seminars, she has advised and supported so many of us through Oxy and beyond. ¡Mil gracias por todo!
A Spanish studies major and history minor at Oxy, Brown is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Georgetown University
Top photo: A first-year student from the Class of 2018 talks with Puerto during Orientation activities on Aug. 25, 2014, in the Academic Quad.
