Ramón Soto-Crespo has been named the James M. Benson Professor in English. The named professorship recognizes Soto-Crespo's research and prominence in his fields of expertise.
Soto-Crespo is a professor in the Department of English, and holds affiliations with the Departments of Spanish and Portuguese, Latina/Latino Studies, and Comparative & World Literature; the Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies; and the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory.
He previously served as director of the Latino Studies Program at the State University of New York at Buffalo from 2002 to 2012. He is the author of Mainland Passage: The Cultural Anomaly of Puerto Rico (2009), The White Trash Menace and Hemispheric Fiction (2020), and Neobugarrón: Heteroflexibility, Neoliberalism, and Latin/o American Sexual Practice (2023). He also serves as co-editor of the Journal of Modern Literature. His essays have appeared in peer-reviewed academic journals and edited collections.
The Benson Professorship is named after alumnus James M. Benson, a leader in the financial services and insurance industries and longtime philanthropist.