More than 3,200 miles away from her home in Puerto Rico, doctoral student Lourdes D. Concepción Cabán found a supportive Latinx community in Normal that she’s spent the past three years strengthening further.
“At first, it was a shock,” said Concepción Cabán, reflecting on when she first arrived at Illinois State University more than three years ago as a graduate student. “But getting involved with the Latino Studies program was life changing.”
Led by director Dr. Maura Toro-Morn, Latin American and Latino/a Studies (LALS) is a multidisciplinary academic program that offers students and scholars the opportunity to “build cultural bridges between the University, U.S. Latina/o/x communities, and Latin America,” according to Toro-Morn.
Concepción Cabán served as the program’s graduate assistant during her second and third years on campus. Her duties involved helping plan and run LALS’s extensive Latinx Heritage Month programming, including hosting Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernandez for the 2023 Latino Cultural Dinner.
“The Latino Studies program has really helped me not only meet people who look and speak the same native language as me, but through research and collaborations, it has helped me get to know myself a little bit more and understand the complexity of living as a Latina in the United States,” Concepción Cabán said.
Also a native of western Puerto Rico, Toro-Morn immediately connected with Concepción Cabán.
“Dr. Toro-Morn adopts the Latiné students and professors in the community,” Concepción Cabán said. “I feel this sense of familism—or family—of care and love. We’re both from the west side of the island, so there’s a lot of lingo and food that are familiar for both of us.”
As a graduate assistant in the LALS office, Concepción Cabán said she and Toro-Morn often listened to Puerto Rican reggaetón music, including rapper and singer Bad Bunny.
“When you move anywhere, there’s a pressure to adjust, conform, and be part of the norm. But I’m not less Puerto Rican here. I actually feel more of a sense of pride.”
Lourdes D. Concepción Cabán
“When you move anywhere, there’s a pressure to adjust, conform, and be part of the norm,” Concepción Cabán said. “But I’m not less Puerto Rican here. I actually feel more of a sense of pride. I grew up in a house where the culture and my background are very much uplifted and celebrated, and I didn’t want to lose that.
“So, I still hold that very true to myself, because I know that it is beneficial for me and, also, for the students who come after me. Being unapologetically me helps other people see themselves in me and helps me stay true to who I am.”
Concepción Cabán chose to leave Puerto Rico to pursue a Ph.D. in school psychology at Illinois State because of the opportunity to research with Dr. Brea Banks, an associate professor of psychology.
As an undergraduate majoring in psychology at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez, Concepción Cabán discovered Banks’ research on the effects of microaggression in school settings.
“I knew about microaggressions at that point, and when I saw what she was publishing and that she had a lab, I contacted my friend, Dr. Torres González, who was already here at ISU as a graduate student, and she gave me more information about what was happening with her research,” Concepción Cabán said. “It was through that friend that I was able to connect more personally with Dr. Banks’ research. I ended up here because of Dr. Banks.”
Concepción Cabán admits feeling “a little star struck” when she first met Banks at Illinois State. “It was surreal,” she said. “But it was nice because she’s a very real person.”
Working in Banks’ RAMS (Researchers Addressing Microaggressions in Schools) Lab, Concepción Cabán is focusing her dissertation on identity and how it relates to microaggressions.
“She’s given me the floor to explore what I wanted to when I came in, which was the intersection of Black and Latina, because I identify as Black and Latina—or Afroboricua,” Concepción Cabán said. “We’ve been learning together through that process, and we’ve also just started researching the intersection of LGBTQIA+ communities as well as disability and microaggressions.”
Concepción Cabán is on track to earn a doctorate in 2026. After graduation, she’ll return to Puerto Rico where she hopes to become a professor at her undergraduate alma mater, the University of Puerto Rico.
“I have a strong passion to work as an advocate for education in Puerto Rico,” Concepción Cabán said. “I know there are systemic issues and that accessibility to education for children in Puerto Rico is not widespread. There are a lot of kids in Puerto Rico who are not getting quality education or education at all.”
Becoming a professor, Concepción Cabán believes, is her best opportunity to make an impact.
“I feel that I can directly influence the next line of professionals, and through research, I can also be a very powerful advocate,” she said.
For Concepción Cabán, improving the education system in her home country is personal. Her sister is a teacher, and her grandmother and aunt were teachers too.
“Getting a doctorate is going to be so much more than a degree,” Concepción Cabán said. “It’s who I pledge to be and what I’ve learned from this program—from Dr. Banks and Dr. Toro-Morn. It’ll also be for my family and for my island. To have this degree will mean that I can give back to my community and to my family.”
