Yesenia Ayala '18 wins 2018 Helena Percas de Ponseti Senior Award

May 15, 2018

Yesenia Ayala '18 is the winner of the Helena Percas de Ponseti Senior Award for the Academic Year 2017-2018. This award recognizes the quality of Yesenia's academic record as well as her commitment to the department's program.

In the forty years Professor Helena Percas de Ponseti taught in the Department of Spanish, she earned national and international recognition as an outstanding teacher and scholar. The first book she published represents one of the first major examinations of Latin American women poets. Professor Ponseti’s subsequent books and articles on Cervantes enhanced her scholarly reputation. Not surprisingly, after retiring from active teaching Professor Ponseti continued to lecture and publish on Cervantes and his art. Generations of Grinnell students benefited from the mutual enrichment of her research and teaching.

Past recipients of this award have been:

Troy Dougherty, 2000-2001
Matt Belknap, 2001-2002
Jennifer L. Thornton, 2002-2003
Phillip M. Cluphf, 2003-2004
Georgia Hart, 2004-2005
Joseph Hansen, 2005-2006
Anna Thomas, 2006-2007
Margaret Funk, 2007-2008
Ha Na Park, 2008-2009
Karl Kremling, 2009-2010
Joey Gallina, 2010-2011
Anna Bosak, 2011-2012
Kate Munday, 2012-2013
Claire Boerigter, 2013-2014
Isaac Walker, 2014-2015
Paige Wheeler, 2015-2016
Adriana Zenteno Hopp, 2016-2017