Doris Sommer is Ira and Jewell Williams Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of African and African American Studies. She is founder of "Cultural Agents," an Initiative at Harvard and an NGO dedicated to reviving the civic mission of the Humanities. Her academic and outreach work promotes development through arts and humanities worldwide, specifically through the “Arts and Policy Certificate,” for city governments to discover how participatory arts address urgent challenges; and “Pre-Texts,” a train the trainers program to support democracy through literacy, critical thinking, and creativity. Among her books are Foundational Fictions: The National Romances of Latin America (1991) about novels that helped to build new nations; Proceed with Caution when Engaged by Minority Literature (1999) on the difference positionality makes; Bilingual Aesthetics: A New Sentimental Education (2004) for our times of contested immigration; and The Work of Art in the World: Civic Agency and Public Humanities (2014). Sommer has enjoyed and is dedicated to developing good public-school education. She has a B.A. from New Jersey's Douglass College for Women, and Ph.D. from Rutgers University. Director of Cultural Agents, DRCLAS; American Studies; EMR; Public Service; Public Health; SAI