About Dr. Hernández-Laroche
Scholar, educator, and the founding director of South Carolina Centro Latino at USC Upstate.
Celebrating the 2026 Public Scholars at La Fiesta, April 22, 2026. Photo: USC Upstate (opens in a new tab)
Dr. Araceli Hernández-Laroche
Founding Director of El Centro, and Professor of Modern Languages at USC Upstate
Dr. Hernández-Laroche earned her PhD at UC Berkeley and speaks four languages. Her scholarship connects Latinx interdisciplinary studies, civic leadership, and the multilingual public humanities.
Spanish is her first language. Before coming to South Carolina in 2012, she taught French and Spanish at a women's Catholic university in New Jersey.
Her publications include work in Public Humanities and PMLA. She has served on the Modern Language Association's Ad Hoc Committee on Valuing the Public Humanities and is a member of the SC Humanities board.
At USC Upstate she also coordinates the French program. She has guided many student capstone projects, at USC Upstate and with students from other colleges, including the project behind this website.
Honors
- 2024Women of Influence, GSA Business Report
- 2023Akers Prize, SC Humanities, for using culture and history to bring people together
- 2020Career Woman of the Year, Business and Professional Women of South Carolina
- 2020Inclusion Advocate of the Year, OneSpartanburg, Inc.
Leadership and service
Selected current and past service across the state and the country.
- SC HumanitiesBoard of Directors, FY2025–present
- Modern Language AssociationPast service, Ad Hoc Committee on Valuing the Public Humanities
- Association of Language Departments (ALD)Co-president of the Executive Committee in 2022, when it was known as ADFL
- American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU)Emerging Leaders Program, 2020–2021 cohort
- American Association of Teachers of French, South Carolina chapterPast president
- Chapman Cultural CenterBoard member
- Spartanburg Academic MovementBoard member
- Hub City Writers ProjectBoard member
- Alianza SpartanburgLeadership and steering committee
- Spartanburg Area Chamber of CommerceInclusion Council
The center she founded
USC Upstate announced South Carolina Centro Latino in April 2021. The center brought together work with Latino students, scholars, and families through public scholarship, mentoring, and multilingual community projects.
Dr. Hernández-Laroche, the first tenured Mexican-American professor in USC Upstate's history, became its founding director. She built El Centro around collaboration, community partnerships, and cultural and linguistic work.
In fall 2026, its work includes the Public Scholars program, the eighth Avanzando Through College cohort, translation and interpreting projects, and a public events series.
Meet the creator
Jean Segura is a student at Spartanburg Methodist College (SMC), president of SMC LASO (opens in a new tab) (Latin American Student Organization), and founder of Segura's Solutions. He created this website as part of his SMC capstone project, with support and encouragement from Dr. Araceli Hernández-Laroche.
Explore Jean's capstone (opens in a new tab)Connect with Jean (opens in a new tab)
Email Jean: jsegura@segurassolutions.com
Jean on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)
Two voices. One conversation.
Two speech shapes form the S in the Segura's Solutions logo. They reflect a simple belief: good work starts with understanding each other, in English or Spanish.
Segura is Jean's last name, and segura also means "safe" in Spanish. Solutions represents the practical solutions he wants to provide: clear, useful websites that help small businesses and community organizations connect with the people they serve.
Sources for this page
- SC Humanities, “Akers Prize: Dr. Araceli Hernández-Laroche” (2023) (opens in a new tab)
- Hub City Writers Project, interview (April 2020) (opens in a new tab)
- GSA Business Report, 2024 Women of Influence (opens in a new tab)
- SCBIZ, “USC Upstate to open Latino center” (opens in a new tab)
- USC Upstate center announcement (2021) (opens in a new tab)
- WSPA, “USC Upstate to open Latino center” (opens in a new tab)
- SC Humanities, faculty biography (opens in a new tab)
- SC Humanities, board member spotlight (opens in a new tab)
Invite her to speak
Lectures, panels, interviews, and academic collaborations in English, Spanish, and French.
Send an invitation