Nassau Community College Professor Dr. Ricardo Santos
Appointed SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor
October 14, 2025, Garden City, NY – Nassau Community College is pleased to announce that the SUNY Board of Trustees has appointed Dr. Ricardo Santos to the rank of SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor. Dr. Santos is an English professor.
Dr. Ricardo J. Santos is a scholar-activist and internationally recognized expert in transnational feminist theory, literature, and prison education. He has dedicated his career to integrating social justice, critical pedagogy, and human rights into both teaching and research.
A specialist in Latin American — particularly Brazilian— literature and contemporary women’s writing, his scholarship focuses on voices historically excluded from literary canons. His current work centers on prison education, where he combines literary study with civic engagement to foster transformative learning in carceral settings.
Dr. Santos holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from SUNY Binghamton and a law degree from Universidade Cândido Mendes in Brazil. His distinguished career includes a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award, multiple NEH grants, and fellowships with the SUNY Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention and NYU’s Faculty Resource Network.
He is the recipient of numerous honors, including the SUNY Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Research and in Teaching. Dr. Santos is the author and editor of several influential works, among them PoÉtica da Diferença (Factash Editora: São Paulo, Brazil) and Latin American Shakespeares (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press: Madison, NJ), as well as many peer-reviewed articles published across the U.S., Europe, and Latin America. He has also held visiting appointments at the Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (Brazil) and served as the Sophia M. Libman–NEH Professor of Humanities at Hood College, where he co-directed the Center for the Humanities.
The SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professorship recognizes and honors mastery of teaching. For this prestigious tribute to be conferred, candidates must have demonstrated consistently superior mastery of teaching, outstanding service to students, and commitment to their ongoing intellectual growth, scholarship and professional growth, and adherence to rigorous academic standards and requirements.
About Nassau Community College
Nassau Community College, a campus of the State University of New York, provides a
comprehensive public college experience designed to transform lives through higher
education. Serving 17,000 full-time, part-time and continuing education students,
NCC offers more than 70 programs that lead to an associate’s degree or certificate.
Through on-campus and online offerings, the College educates local and international
students and boasts 164,000 alumni. Situated on 225 acres in Garden City, Long Island,
the college grounds reside in historic Nassau County, one of the most desirable locations
to live in the United States and an epicenter for business and careers. Since 1959,
NCC has earned a nationwide reputation for academic excellence, affordability, and
ease of transferability to four-year schools.
Media Contact: Brett Spielberg | brett.spielberg@ncc.edu | (516) 572.9634
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