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 completed Doctoral 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. 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.