Susana Rivera-Mills, associate professor of Spanish linguistics and diversity advancement at Oregon State University, has been appointed to chair the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.

Rivera-Mills has been at OSU since 2007. Her passion for her teaching and research goes beyond an academic interest – she emigrated with her family from El Salvador at the age of 12.

"Susana's leadership skills make her an ideal advocate for the importance of language study both in the university and in Oregon communities," said Lawrence Rodgers, dean of the College of Liberal Arts.