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Rolena Adorno studies Colonial Spanish American literature and history and the nineteenth century origins of Hispanism in the United States. She was appointed by President Barack Obama in November 2009 to serve a five-year term for the National Endowment for the Humanities and is currently the Chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Yale University. Her publications include: Guáman Poma: Writing and Resistance in Colonial Peru (1986), Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vace: His Account, His Life, and the Expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez (1999), and The Polemics of Possession in Spanish American Narrative (2007). Her works have been awarded prizes the Modern Language Association, the American Historical Association, and the Western Historical Association.

The Center for the Humanities and the Latin American Studies Minor present Professor Adorno's talk entitled 'Why Do We Celebrate Columbus Day?' addressing American and Latin American relations during the Mexican-American War, particularly as regards the development of American perceptions of Hispanism.

This event is a part of the programming for National Hispanic Heritage Month and the National Arts and Humanities Month.