About Esther Madríz
Esther Madríz, a beloved professor of Sociology, embodied the Jesuit ideals of educating the whole person and social justice.
Coming to the US from Venezuela, much of Esther’s life was about crossing borders. Sometimes these were national borders, at other moments these were race, gender and language.
Madríz joined USF as an assistant professor in 1996. In her relatively short career at the university, she co-founded USF's Latin American Studies program and was the key founder of the Center for Latinx Studies in the Americas (CELASA). Her teaching and activism focused on many facets of criminology, including domestic violence, hate crimes, and human rights abuses against Latinos. She served on the boards of two community outreach and policy organizations as well as on the board of the USF-based Peace Review.