Dr.
Vidal-Ortiz’s academic interests range from U.S. race
and ethnic studies, Puerto Rican/Latino studies, and sex/gender/sexuality
scholarship, including transgender/transsexual studies and
Queer Theory. His 2005 dissertation, “‘Sexuality’ and ‘Gender’ in Santería:
Towards a Queer of Color Critique in the Study of Religion” received
the 2006 Paul Monette-Roger Horowitz Dissertation Prize by
the Center
for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS) of the City
University of New York. He is revising this work into a book
manuscript using the term “sexual minorities” and
how it is utilized in the Afro-Cuban religion, thanks
to further research under a Joseph A. Fichter Research Grant
from the Association
for the Sociology of Religion.
Trained in a number of qualitative methods, he employs these
for academic and community-based research/work. His grassroots-based
experience includes HIV/AIDS prevention/services/community
research, Latino queer organizing, progressive philanthropy,
and program and organizational development. As part of his
applied sociology and social policy interests, Vidal-Ortiz
has collaborated with local organizations such as Different
Avenues (with funding he helped fundraise from the Sociological
Initiatives Foundation) and the Washington
County Free Library, and supporting the development of
the new MA concentration in Public Sociology at AU. He is also
involved, in an advisory capacity, on the early stage formation
of the LGBT Puerto Ricans’ oral
histories as part of the Center
for Puerto Rican Studies Archives (at Hunter College—a
member of the City University of New York system).
Dr. Vidal-Ortiz has published articles and essays in Sociology
Compass, Qualitative
Sociology, Latino
Studies, Sexuality
Research and Social Policy, The
Qualitative Report, and American
Sexuality Magazine, and book chapters in books titled Hybrid
Identities, Latinos/as
in the United States: Changing the Face of América, Gendered
Sexualities, and Gay
Religion. He co-edited, with Nancy Naples, The
Sexuality of Migration: Border Crossings and Mexican Immigrant
Men, based
on the research of late Lionel Cantú, Jr. He also co-edited,
with Karl Bryant, a special issue of the Sexualities journal
on “Retheorizing Homophobias” (where he also has
a peer reviewed article). Forthcoming work includes a chapter
in the book Fieldwork Identities and a couple of others
in an edited collection for the Latina/o
Sexualities Research Agenda (the book is under contract
with Rutgers University Press).
Salvador Vidal-Ortiz is currently an editorial board member
for the journal Contemporary
Sociology, published by the American
Sociological Association (ASA), and recently completed
his three-year term as an elected council member of the Race
and Ethnic Minorities Section of the same organization. As
an active member of ASA, he serves on the selection committee
for the Dissertation Award, as
well as the Committee
on the Status of Women in Sociology.
In 2008, he was the sole recipient of the Multicultural Affairs/International
Student Services Award for Distinguished Faculty given at American
University.
At AU, Vidal-Ortiz has had the opportunity to teach courses
such as (click links for syllabi) Sociology
of Latino Studies; Gender,
Sexuality, and Migration; and Introduction
to Social Research. For fall 2008, he will teach Global
Sociology and Social
Policy Analysis. In 2009, he
expects to teach Sociology of Latino Studies, and
if approved, a General Education course called Sexualities
Studies (for the Women’s and Gender Studies program).
