Américo Mendoza-Mori teaches Quechua and Spanish at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. He founded the Quechua Language Program at the Penn Language Center. Mendoza-Mori received his BA from Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, and got his Ph.D. in Literary, Cultural and Linguistic studies at the University of Miami, Florida. He has co-edited the book Panel A-L Reflexiones sobre literatura y discursos de América Latina (2010) and published articles in different media and academic platforms in Peru and the United States. Mendoza-Mori has been recognized with a number of awards for both research and teaching, including the University of Pennsylvania Teaching Innovation Grant. Dr. Mendoza-Mori is involved with different projects to raise awareness on the value of Andean Culture and Indigenous languages, including the Indigenous Forum at the United Nations. At Penn he co-funded the international conference ‘Thinking Andean Studies’. He has collaborated with academic and community-based organizations in Peru, Bolivia and the United States.