Adela Penagos, PhD, President
Adela came to the United States as an international student from Mexico and has spent over 20 years advising highly talented students about the academic, personal, social, and leadership opportunities at their disposal. She has a wealth of experience guiding students to put forth the best possible application for undergraduate, graduate, law, and medical programs and to excel once into the program of choice. She is passionate about helping students reach their potential.
Adela was the Associate Dean of Academic Advising at Harvard for two years. In this role, she oversaw the academic advising of all undergraduate students and the advising matching for incoming freshmen by working closely with the Admissions Office. She was a member of the Harvard College Fulbright U.S. Student Programs Evaluations Committee and the Pre-Law Advising Committee.
Prior to her time at Harvard, she worked at the University of Notre Dame for twelve years in various roles, including Assistant Dean in the College of Arts and Letters, Academic Advisor in First Year of Studies and Associate Director of the Balfour-Hesburgh Program, and Coordinator of Multicultural Student Programs and Services. During her time at Notre Dame, she worked in transfer admissions, admissions to non-Notre Dame Study Abroad Programs, and served in the Selection Committee for the Alliance of Catholic Education (ACE), reviewing applications, interviewing prospective candidates, and selecting students to participate in one of the nation's premier programs of Service through Teaching. Furthermore, she was one of the pre-law and pre-med advisors.
Adela also has extensive teaching experience. Most recently she was a Visiting Assistant Professor of the Practice in Hispanic Studies at Boston College. She has also taught Spanish Honors, Conversation, Writing, and Culture at MIT, the University of Notre Dame, Boston University, and Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart in Lake Forest, IL. She has a BA in Modern Languages, cum laude, from Knox College, an MA in Spanish Literature from the University of Notre Dame, and a PhD in Hispanic Language and Literatures from Boston University. She is fluent in Spanish, English, and French and has lived in Mexico, France, and the United States.