Eduardo Ledesma, Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, is the recipient of a Conrad Humanities Professorial Scholar award beginning in 2019-2020 and continuing through 2023-2024.

The award is designed to recognize tenured faculty members in LAS who are established or emerging leaders with exceptionally strong scholarly recognition and significant promise for continued achievement.

“In Professor Ledesma you find the combination of a young scholar with a distinguished record of scholarship, excellence in teaching both the undergraduate and graduate levels, the ability to work across disciplines, and a strong dedication to citizenship,” said Mariselle Meléndez, Professor and Head of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

“Furthermore, his research history shows an active, productive, and consistent scholarly publication record with impact at the national level which clearly attests to the significant promise for continued achievement. He has contributed to the excellence of the Department, the School, and the University, with his specific expertise in literary studies, film, and technology and his ability to engage in interdisciplinary work.

"In fact, she continued, “his already important contributions to his field, have granted him extremely prestigious recognitions at the national and campus level such as the NEH Summer stipend and the Campus Distinguished Promotion Award. We are very fortunate indeed to have Eduardo as a superb representative of our Department, the School, and the University of Illinois.”

Ledesma is a scholar of literature, film and new media. He received a PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University in 2012.

The Conrad Humanities Scholar awards are funded by a gift from the late Arlys Conrad, whose estate gift is shared by the College of LAS and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.