Meet Dr. Ana Maria Hernandez

Professor, Education and Language Acquisition Department

LaGuardia was just shy of a year old in 1972, when Dr. Ana Maria Hernandez began as an adjunct professor for the Department of Language and Culture – the forerunner of the English Department and the Humanities Department; and later, the Education and Language Acquisition Department. “Had I stayed in Cuba, I would have been a historian,” says the visionary scholar who celebrated LaGuardia’s 40th anniversary alongside her 50 years of having arrived in New York in January 2011.

“LaGuardia needed, what we here call, a jack of all trades, and I fit the description for that particular department,” she recalls. The College was in its formative years, filled with young, eager and innovative minds; Dr. Hernandez flourished and has remained since.

Dr. Hernandez wanted to study history but instead majored in Spanish and Latin American Literature with a minor in 19th Century History at Queens College. “In that moment a strong relationship was forming between Latin America and the U.S. – Kennedy was in office,” she says about her decision to study literature. Although it was not her preferred field she saw great opportunity in the new major. “I’ve never been political. My interest is in the humanities – art, theater, language – and I thought, ‘This is my place. I’ll be able to study the history of all these areas.’” Essential to her studies, she learned French, Italian and German before completing her masters in Comparative Literature at the City University of New York Graduate Center and then earning her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from New York University.

Recruited by another LaGuardia pioneer, Flora Mancuso, Dr. Hernandez developed courses in Spanish grammar; and Spanish and English-language Latin American Literature and Culture - classes that are still taught at LaGuardia today. When new information was discovered about the Mayan civilizations in 1973, Dr. Hernandez zealously followed the study through the span of four years and recreated the Latin American Civilizations course to reflect the new findings.

She is the epitome of a Renaissance woman. Her multiplicity can be seen in her scholarly work. In June 2011, she edited and published Fantoches 1926, contextualizing the work of 11 politically active, intellectual writers associated with the Grupo Minorista of the early Cuban Republic.

Her other recent publications focus on the Uruguayan Felisberto Hernandez, a daring 18th century fiction writer whose masterpiece is the story of a man obsessed with his doll collection. She’s also written Spanish-language critiques of such fantastical literature as J.S. Le Fanu’s Carmilla, the vampire story that predates Dracula; and Horacio Quiroga’s Miss Dorothy Phillips, Mi esposa; El vampiro; and El espectro, all of which share a common protagonist. In addition, she’s a member of the International Association of Scholars of the Fantastic and has been part of the reviewing staff of World Literature Today since 1977.

Dr. Hernandez is currently working on an edition of the 19th Century Cuban classic Cecilia Valdez o la Loma Del Angel. The New York Public Library has granted her special permission to review a very fragile, early version of the novel. “I have to hold the corners with the tip of my fingers when I turn the pages, otherwise I risk it turning to dust,” she says with an enormous smile, her devotion to the project shining through.

She received a Focus Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2003 to explore the “African Roots of Latin Music.” She and her colleagues, Dr. Max Rodriguez and Dr. Gustavo Moretto, have incorporated this research into the music, culture, and history courses they teach at LaGuardia. In addition, she’s presented on Latin American composers at El Museo Del Barrio; and Cuban singing legend Benny Moré at the Interdisciplinary Conference on The African Presence and Influence on the Culture of the Americas. She is a fellow of the Cuba project at the Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Relations at the CUNY Graduate Center; and has published several works on Cuban poets and writers.

In 2005, Dr. Hernandez had her “third incarnation” when the Education and Language Acquisition Department branched out of the Humanities Department. This department gives classes in childhood and bilingual education as well as courses in history, literature, reading and writing, and language skills in 13 modern languages. There she taught Spanish and French in addition to her usual literature and culture courses.

First at Queens College and the CUNY Graduate Center then at LAGCC, Dr. Hernandez carries on the tried and true tradition of our founders – she driven to experiment and brings her ingenuity to the classroom.

“I’m very grateful to CUNY, the avant-garde,” she says. “I’ve grown a lot at LaGuardia and I’ve always felt that my work is greatly appreciated.”