Teresa Levy: administrative director of the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies City University of New York

Latin Beat Magazine, March, 2005 by Rebecca Burkeen

In addition to Latin music and the arts, Latin Beat Magazine has always been passionate about all facets of Latin American culture and we were thrilled to find an individual who shares that passion for all things Latino. Teresita Levy is an intelligent and vivacious young woman born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico who has made New York her permanent home since 1992. Levy is the administrative director of the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (the "Center"). Essentially, she handles all the daily needs of the Center including preparing budgets, managing accounts, scheduling and coordinating events, meeting with faculty and students, meeting with potential donors, grant writing, and more. One of the highlights of her job is organizing events at the Graduate Center that have to do with culture and the arts. She enjoys being able to promote the arts of Latin America and the Caribbean, whether it be a tango singer from Buenos Aires, a photographer from Cuba, or a Latin jazz group from New York City. While the Center always strives to provide academic programs, Levy admits that it is the programs that deal with the arts and culture that are most successful and bring in the most people from the community. What Levy enjoys most about her profession is interfacing with people, whether it be the faculty, students, community members, politicians or activists; the people she is surrounded with on a daily basis are interested in the same things that she is, which makes her job a sheer pleasure.

As far as how being a woman in the academic arena has shaped her career, Levy doesn't feel gender has been an issue and rather believes that it's who you are, regardless of gender, which is important. As she puts it, "I am a woman, a Puerto Rican woman, and that definitely 'colors' the way that I interact with others, the projects that I am fond of, and my choice of career."

While she has more academic credentials to her name than most of the women I know, she continues to further her education even more as she is currently a full-time student in the Ph. D. Program in History, writing a dissertation about the tobacco-growing region of Puerto Rico at the beginning of the 20th century. She explains that she has an inexhaustible curiosity about the world and education helps her to learn more about other people, cultures and topics of interest. She truly enjoys being an observer of her world and learning as much about it as possible.

When not immersed in the academic sector for work or studies, Levy enjoys cooking and traveling. She has traveled to China, England, Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, and throughout the U.S. When asked how people from other parts of the world perceive Latin America she responded, "I think about 10-15 years ago, people in general had little knowledge about Latin America. That has changed a bit, since technology has made our world very small. I think people still do not have sophisticated knowledge of Latin America. After all, it is a region ethnically and culturally diverse, and it is difficult to make generalizations. Ask any woman from Buenos Aires what she has in common with a woman from El Cibao and you may get a curt 'we are both women;" meaning that their lifestyles, tastes, diet, and cultural reference may have absolutely nothing in common! This diversity is what keeps me fascinated as a student of Latin America and the Caribbean."

On a personal note, Levy is married to the highly educated and very talented Ben Lapidus, from New York. Lapidus has a Ph.D in Ethnomusicology (a combination of music, anthropology and history) and shares in Levy's passion for academics and the arts. Lapidus is the guitarist and director of his Latin jazz band, Sonido Isleño. Levy occasionally accompanies her husband to gigs where she and her dance partner teach audience members some dance moves before the show, then help lead them throughout the night's musical event.

Although many people used to assume Levy was Jewish from the get-go because of her last name (Levy is her maiden name), she only recently converted to Judaism before marrying her husband. Levy's last name was passed down by her Spanish ancestors on her father's side who had converted to Judaism during the Spanish Inquisition and later settled in Puerto Rico seeking economic prosperity. Levy is the author of a very interesting essay which she wrote for a contest on InterfaithFamily.com. The theme was one she is all too familiar with: "We're Interfaith Families ... Connecting with Jewish Life." The title of her essay was Tostones and Matzoh: A Puerto Rican-Jewish Journey. The essay describes the way in which she and her husband, just as many diverse families around the world, combine their religious and familial traditions (Levy was raised in a Puerto Rican Catholic home). "The mezuzah on the doorway complements the vejigante Afro-Puerto Rican mask on the wall; we celebrate Pesach (Passover) with his family, and Christmas with mine; I read from a Spanish hagaddah (book that tells the Passover story) and he sings aguinaldos (traditional Puerto Rican carols) to my elderly aunts."