Dr. Aracelis Nieves Maysonet is a lecturer of Spanish for Heritage Speakers in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. She is a LatCrit scholar with an interdisciplinary background in research, policy and practice committed to help eliminate the gap in educational opportunities that Latinos have, by identifying effective educational programs and teacher practices that meet the academic, social, and affective needs of those students. This commitment inspired her to create a three level Spanish for Heritage Speakers Program for secondary schools that has been institutionalized for sixteen years. This is an inclusive, transdisciplinary, translanguaging and integrated curriculum by which students can develop and validate their new transcultural identity. ACTFL Language Educator magazine published an article about this curriculum in its March/April 2015 volume about student-centered exemplary programs. Her goal is to create a similar program for college Latino students and to prepare future Spanish educators to teach it. She is currently writing a book about the teaching of Spanish as a heritage language. In addition, Dr. Nieves is a National Board-Certified Teacher of World Languages and holds a postgraduate professional license Spanish PREK-12 from the Commonwealth of Virginia and another professional license from West Virginia Department of Education.

Dr. Nieves is also a renowned short story writer. She has been included as one of the ten best Puerto Rican women writers in the anthology Del silencio al estallido: Narrativa femenina puertorriqueña in 1991. In her stories, she denounces the social injustices experienced by women, particularly, Latinas. Her last book: Nosotras… Entre arañas y telas (2022) revolves around the discrimination against Latinas in the academia. This volume is part of a trilogy comprised by: Nosotras…Como siempre (1984) Nosotras… Otra vez (2001).

SELECTED SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS

Book
Las Crónicas de un mundo enfermo: ¿Un retrato vigente del colonizado puertorriqueño? San Juan: Editorial Raíces, 2020

Book Chapter
Como una leona: Shielding my son from discrimination at school. In L. J. Pentón Herrera & E. T. Trịnh (Eds.), Critical Storytelling: Multilingual Immigrants in the United States. (pp.57-65) Brill/Sense, 2021

Peer Review Articles
The Dual Language Immersion Model at Ana G. Mendez University: Forging Hopes and Dreams. ACTFL The Language Educator Magazine. 2020 April / May Issue
¿Discriminada? Ni por religiosa ni minusválida, pero por todas las anteriores. Revista Camino Real. Instituto
Franklin. Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, España, 2020
“Ni soy de aquí ni soy de allá”: Negotiating a Transcultural Identity in the Spanish for Fluent Speakers Classroom. In F. Ramos (Ed.), Proceedings of the V International Colloquium on Languages, Cultures, Identity, in School and Society. 2019
¡Qué curvas y yo sin frenos!: Refranes que amainan el respeto hacia la mujer. Revista Mujeres con visión, March 2019.
“Sueño o pesadilla: Modalidades en la Educación de los Latinos en Estados Unidos. Revista Mujeres con Visión. Oct 2018
“The Impact of the Spanish for Fluent Speakers Curriculum in the Attitudes, Motivation, Self-esteem, Language Skills and Academic Future of Latino Students”. NABE Journal of Research and Practice, Vol. 6, 2015
The Spanish for Fluent Speakers curriculum: Empowering Students to succeed. ACTFL The Language Educator Magazine, March/April 2015

SELECTED LITERARY PUBLICATIONS

Books
NOSOTRAS… ENTRE ARAÑAS Y TELAS. Río Grande, PR: La Casa Editora Puertorriqueña, 2022
NOSOTRAS … TODAVIA. San Juan, PR, Editorial Raíces, 2018
NOSOTRAS… OTRA VEZ. San Juan, PR, Editorial Creación 2001
NOSOTRAS...COMO SIEMPRE, San Juan: Editorial Raíces, 1984.

Essays and Short stories in Journals
¿Quién es el culpable? Revista Didasko 2021 https://revistadidasko.wordpress.com/
La esencia de mi ser. Mujeres con visión, Feb. 2021 Website
El que no tiene dinga, tiene mandinga. Mujeres con visión. Jul. 2020 Website
El valor de la familia. Mujeres con visión, Jun. 2020 Website
Como novia de rancho. Revista Camino Real. Instituto Franklin. Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, 2020
El amor propio: Plataforma para un mundo mejor. Mujeres con visión Apr. 2020 Website
Tiempo para vivir. Mujeres con visión, Mar. 2020 Website
¿Conoces las inteligencias múltiples de tus hijos? Mujeres con visión. Website
“La casi señora del Castillo”. In Antología del Segundo Certamen Nacional de Microcuentos José Luis González. Editorial Múcaro CEDEI, 2019
“¿Mujer o Mantis? In Antología del Segundo Certamen Nacional de Microcuentos José Luis González. CEDEI, 2019
“Confianza en ti mismo: La clave para tener éxito” Mujeres con visión. August, 2019 Website
¿Intento o Aventura? Revista Mujeres con Visión, June, 2019 Website
Una noche del 23. Antología: Cuentos que son una nota. Miami: Snow Fountain Press, 2019
La boda della. Antología del Congreso Mundial de las Letras Hispanas Miguel de Cervantes. Madrid: Editorial ASORBAEX Nov 2018
“Tiempo para vivir”. Antología Congreso Mujer Girasol. Madrid: Editorial ASORBAEX Nov 2018