- Who are we?
- Mission, Goals and Objetives
- Academic Programs
- Academic Counseling
- Curriculum Offerings
- Faculty
- Administrative Personnel
- Contact Information
- Students
- Academic Advising
The current Bachelor of Arts in English offered at the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey promotes the study of English as a way to prepare students for a variety of professional careers in and out of the island. The BA in English is characterized by its flexibility and diversity of disciplines, thus responding to significant changes in the discipline since the department’s founding in 1969. As stated in the mission, the program is committed to diversity and to keeping a strong curriculum that encourages current approaches, including interdisciplinary methods. The department’s faculty, our most precious resource, educated at prestigious institutions, have been fully committed to the continuous assessment and revamping of our program with particular emphasis on current issues regarding language and culture.
The BA in English is concerned with the study of language, literature, and culture. Its domain is multicultural and includes all the varieties of English and the cultural texts they may produce, ranging from the canonical literary such as Shakespeare to contemporary artistic expressions like music videos, plus the study of language from theoretical, sociological, and applied perspectives. The program is committed to diversity and to keeping a strong curriculum that encourages current approaches, including interdisciplinary methods. It aspires to graduate well-rounded, independent thinkers with a sense of social responsibility. It prepares graduates with strong communication, technological, and research skills and an ability to work critically with a wide range of texts—women and men who are prepared to enter graduate programs in their field and/or are employable in a variety of professions, including the teaching of English.
Students who pursue a BA in English have the flexibility to design a program of study that is based on their various career goals and is also engaged with their everyday lives as members of contemporary Puerto Rican society and the world community. The program looks forward to offer students a variety of emphases that reflect their diverse interests as well as current developments in the field of English studies, such as applied and theoretical linguistics and literature, women and gender studies, and/or studies of the Caribbean and its diaspora.
Goals of the Department:
To support the Mission and Goals of the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey, the Department of English has established the following as its main goals:
- To offer excellent undergraduate education in the study of English language, literature, and culture;
- To maintain a sound, efficient, and supportive administration of the Department;
- To make the Department of English at Cayey a source of academic and cultural activity; and to promote student sense of social responsibility.
- To promote student sense of social responsibility.
- To fulfill these goals within the major, the Department will offer a bachelor’s program through which students will:
Become conversant in diverse and current areas of English studies.
b. Develop essential speaking, writing, critical, and analytical abilities for success in their field, their future professions, and their lives.
c. use the language and their learning both within and beyond the university classroom.
d. enhance their sense of social responsibility.
Nellie Vázquez Rivera, PhD
Assistant Professor and Interim Chair in the English Department at the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey. Her interests are in Caribbean masculinities and women/gender studies. She has developed the following courses for the English Department: Caribbean Women Writers, Women in Shakespearean Drama and Abuse and Exploitation in 18th and 19th Century British Literature. She is currently in the process of developing a course on Caribbean Masculinities. Dr. Vázquez has also offered workshops for English teachers of the Department of Education.
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- Office 224 MC – Department of English – Ext. 2181
- E-mail address: vazquez1@upr.edu
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Sally J. Delgado, PhD
Associate Professor in the English Department of the University of Puerto Rico in Cayey. She earned her PhD in Literature and Languages of the English-speaking Caribbean and continues to explore research interests in the contact languages and dialectology of the Atlantic and Caribbean regions. She has authored and edited several books and published various peer-reviewed articles on the contact languages of the Caribbean and their associated representations and intersections with history, educational policy and social parameters. She is also active in local and international conferences to disseminate her research findings.
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- Office 223 MC – Ext. 2504
- E-mail address: delgado@upr.edu
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David Lizardi Sierra is associate professor in the English Department of the University of Puerto Rico in Cayey. He has been at UPR-Cayey since 2001 and has occupied various administrative positions in the university and the English department. His interests are in Caribbean, Latino, U.S., & British literature, Pop cultural studies and literature, and music in connection with literary genres and culture. He also teaches ESL general education courses. He has published articles on Caribbean literature, Calypso and its influence on Caribbean literary genres, Representations of women in literary works and music, Popular Latino music, and has had poems published in journals and newspapers.
• Email address: david.lizardi1@upr.edu
Patria López de Victoria, PhD
Full Professor in the English department of UPR Cayey, teaching courses in Linguistics, Research Methods, and Writing. Her research focuses on language, health, and ageing. She is a qualitative researcher currently working on a project on the narrative experience of disaster in older adults. She is also working on an NIH funded project on resilience and medical helpseeking after the passing of Hurricane Maria.
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- Office 222 MC – Ext. 2503
- E-mail address: lopez1@upr.edu
David Luciano Nuñez, EdD
Assistant Professor in the English Department at the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey where he has taught a wide range of courses from Basic English to upper echelon courses such as Phonetics, Seminar in Linguistics, Discourse and Grammar among others. Has conducted research with new techniques and methodology always with the goal of improving and updating the English Department’s as well as the Pedagogy’s curricula. His passion has always been to instill in the students the need in today’s society for learning and acquiring the English language and for them to understand that: Learning is Fun, and It is A Lifelong Journey!
- Office – 222MC – Ext 2271
- E-mail address: luciano@upr.edu
Gladys Ramos García
A part-time professor in the Department of English at the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey. She worked for more than four decades at the institution occupying executive administrative positions, such as Special Assistant to the Chancellor, Director of External Resources in addition to teaching, which is one of her passions. Her primary focus is Business English Communication; however, she has taught Basic English courses and Children’s Literature too. As an alumni and retired employee from UPR Cayey, she collaborated with many institutional committees and actively participated in preparing several Middle States self-study accreditation reports. She also worked closely with faculty developing different proposals for the institution obtaining successful grants and funds for the institution.
Education
Med TESOL Interamerican,University, San Juan
B.A Elementary and Secondary English Education, UPR Cayey
Active member of TESOL
Has collaborated, offering workshops to high school students on how to prepare business documents. She has also taught at Interamerican Barranquitas and Guayama campuses.
- Email address: ramos@upr.edu
Courses Taught
- INCO 3005 – Business Communication I
- INCO 3006 – Business Communication II
Thayra Reyes Díaz, EdD
Assistant professor in the Department of English at the University of Puerto Rico in Cayey. She has offered courses in English as a second language, literature, advanced composition, and gender studies, as well as courses in pedagogy in elementary and secondary English. She has also collaborated as an editor, translator, and proofreader at the UPR Interdisciplinary Research Institute in Cayey. She has a Doctorate in Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning Environments with an emphasis on Teaching English as a Second Language from Ana G. Méndez University. Her doctoral dissertation was titled: Through the Looking Glass: Female Character Representations in Young Adult Literature in the Teaching of ESL. Dr. Reyes has been a workshop leader in professional development programs for teachers. She has an international certification in Cognitive Neuroscience Applied to Education, from the International Bureau of Applied Cognitive Neuroscience (BINCA). She has collaborated as an opinion columnist in the newspaper El Nuevo Día on topics related to curriculum, teaching, and education in Puerto Rico. Dr. Reyes is an active PRTESOL and the International Literacy Association (ILA) member. She recently published a children’s book titled: Un choque en el tiempo (A Clash in Time- Editorial Raíces, PR 2022), awarded with an honorable mention in the category of Best Children’s Illustrated Fiction Book at the International Latino Book Awards (ILBA) 2023. Dr. Reyes is currently developing a course based on creative writing titled: Writing to Heal: Creative Writing Techniques to Promote Student Resilience, Empowerment, and Agency under the Interdisciplinary Research Institute of the UPR at Cayey and the Mellon Foundation.
- Office 221 MC – Ext. 2080
- E-mail address: reyes@upr.edu
Wilfredo R. Santiago Hernández
Ph.D. candidate and adjunct professor in the Department of English at the University of Puerto Rico, Cayey Campus. He is currently completing his doctoral dissertation, with a concentration in Caribbean Studies, at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. His primary areas of scholarly interest include Puerto Rican diaspora literature, Asian American studies, and Caribbean technopoetics. He also collaborates with the College Board’s Latin America branch in Puerto Rico, where he serves as an English content specialist for the Research and Development division. From 2019 to 2021, he offered professional development workshops to U.S. educators on literature and history through El Proyecto Cordero Belpré, an organization dedicated to fostering decolonial pedagogical approaches in U.S. classrooms. He has taught introductory through advanced literature courses at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, and at Universidad del Sagrado Corazón. His scholarly work has appeared in the 2023 volume of Southern Resonances: Southern Epistemologies, Southern Praxes, and the Languages, Literatures, and Cultures of the Greater Caribbean and Beyond, and he is currently developing a contribution to Palgrave Macmillan’s Reconfiguring Carceral Imaginaries (forthcoming, 2026). His research and teaching foreground transnational, comparative, and decolonial frameworks that bridge literary scholarship, technology, and cultural critique.
- Office 221 MC – Ext. 2080
- E-mail address: santiago5@upr.edu
Courses Taught
- INGL 3101 – Basic English I
- INGL 3102 – Basic English II
- INGL 3201 – Grammar, Composition and Reading I
- INGL 3202 – Grammar, Composition and Reading II
- INGL 3221 – Introduction to Literature I
- INGL 3222 – Introduction to Literature II
- INGL 3231 – Rhetoric and Composition I
- INGL 3232 – Rhetoric and Composition II
- INGL 3251 – Literature of the United States I
- INGL 3252 – Literature of the United States II
Wendell Villanueva Reyes, PhD
Assistant professor in the English Department at the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey. His interests include the Caribbean Bildungsroman, Caribbean Identity, Literature and Film, American and African American Literature and Popular Music as tool for Resistance. He has published articles in La Torre and in the books In a Sea of Heteroglossia: Pluri-Lingualism, Plural-Culturalism, and Pluri-Identification in the Caribbean and Politeness and Face in Caribbean Creoles (With Dr. Nicolas Faraclas).
- Office 228A MC – Ext.2505
- E-mail address: villanueva1@upr.edu
Department of English
Arturo Morales Carrión Bldg., Office 225
PO Box 372230
Cayey, Puerto rico 00737-2230
Tel. 787-738-2161 ext. 2181, 2188
Working hours: 7:30am-3:30pm Monday-Friday
«What can I do with an English Degree?»
This is one of the possible questions incoming first year students ask themselves because many perceive English simply as a school subject, thus equating studying English with becoming teachers. That is only one possibility. Certainly, if you pursue a B.A in English, you may plan to follow a career in teaching, but studying English can open other possibilities as well. A major in English has currency in unexpected areas in today’s marketplace. A degree in English could lead to careers in other fields. Our alumni are pursuing careers in Law, Commerce, Journalism, and the arts. Below is a shortlist of possibilities.
Career Opportunities
Unlike other vocational degrees, a major in English opens a variety of career opportunities for college graduates entering the job market. Since students who graduate with an English degree are trained to ask probing questions about large bodies of texts and then to formulate, analyze, and answer those questions in coherent, persuasive prose, which are vital skills to any number of careers, English majors have much to choose from after graduation. The most obvious career choices for English Majors are writing, journalism, editing, publishing, and teaching. However, other less intuitive job options include positions in advertising, public relations, acting, law, business, marketing, and directing.
Potential Fields & Careers:
• Undergraduate Studies
• Book Publishing
• Business Ventures
• Career Counseling
• Creative Writing
• Comparative Literature
• Court Language Interpreters/ Transcription
• Cultural Studies
• Federal & State Government / Administrative Fields
• Film Studies/Production
• Gender Studies
• Graduate Studies
• International Relations
• Journalism
• Law
• Linguistics
• Modern Languages
• Translation Studies/Translators
• Public Relations
• Tourism Industry
• TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)
• English Education
• Acting
• Writing
• Marketing
• Directing
• Other Fields (Advertising, Athletics, Coaching, Encryptic analysis & deciphering, Entrepreneurship, Military-related Fields, Industrial-Pharmaceutical related Fields, Politics, Proposal development
Profile of the Graduate with a B.A. in English
To fulfill the program goals within the major, the department will offer a bachelor’s program through which students will:
a. Become conversant in diverse and current areas of English studies.
b. Develop essential speaking, writing, critical, and analytical abilities for success in their field, their future professions, and their lives.
c. Use the language and their learning both within and beyond the university classroom
d. Enhance their sense of social responsibility.
Publications:
«Cayey Students Write» (January-February)
«Cayey Students Write» (March-AprilMay)
Director Name: Nellie Vázquez Rivera
Director Email: nellie.vazquez1@upr.edu
Secretary Email: jennie.merced1@upr.edu
Departent Email: ingles.cayey@upr.edu
Sigma Tau Delta: The International English Honor Society
Chapter: Alpha Zeta Alpha (est. 1997)
Sponsor: David Lizardi Sierra, Ph.D.; Advisors: Nellie Vázquez, Ph.D, Nereida Prado, Ph.D.
Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honor Society, was founded in 1924 at Dakota Wesleyan University.
The Society strives to:
Confer distinction for high achievement in English language and literature in undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies;
Provide, through its local chapters, cultural stimulation on college campuses and promote interest in literature and the English language in surrounding communities; Foster all aspects of the discipline of English, including literature, language, and writing; Promote exemplary character and good fellowship among its members; Exhibit high standards of academic excellence; and Serve society by fostering literacy. With over 875 active chapters located in the United States and abroad, there are more than 1,000 Faculty Sponsors, and approximately 9,000 members inducted annually.
Sigma Tau Delta also recognizes the accomplishments of professional writers who have contributed to the fields of language and literature.
Publications:
- Life During a Pandemic(June Newsletter) New
- Christmas en Puerto Rico Newsletter
- New Beginnings
- English Department Newsletter (Forthcoming)
Phoebus Light-The English Department Journal (Forthcoming) - Cayey students write (september-october 2016)
- ALL THINGS LOVE (February-March 2019)
- Sigma Tau Delta
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Sigma Tau Delta: The International English Honor Society
Chapter: Alpha Zeta Alpha (est. 1997)
Sponsor: David Lizardi Sierra, Ph.D.; Advisors: Nellie Vázquez, Ph.D, Nereida Prado, Ph.D.
Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honor Society, was founded in 1924 at Dakota Wesleyan University.The Society strives to:
Confer distinction for high achievement in English language and literature in undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies;
Provide, through its local chapters, cultural stimulation on college campuses and promote interest in literature and the English language in surrounding communities; Foster all aspects of the discipline of English, including literature, language, and writing; Promote exemplary character and good fellowship among its members; Exhibit high standards of academic excellence; and Serve society by fostering literacy. With over 875 active chapters located in the United States and abroad, there are more than 1,000 Faculty Sponsors, and approximately 9,000 members inducted annually.Sigma Tau Delta also recognizes the accomplishments of professional writers who have contributed to the fields of language and literature.
Publications:
- Life During a Pandemic(June Newsletter) New
- Christmas en Puerto Rico Newsletter
- New Beginnings
- English Department Newsletter (Forthcoming)
Phoebus Light-The English Department Journal (Forthcoming) - Cayey students write (september-october 2016)
- ALL THINGS LOVE (February-March 2019)
- Announcements & Events
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