SPO Professor and Acting Director of the Portuguese Language Program, Luis Gonçalves, was honored with the American Organization of Teachers of Portuguese (AOTP) Board of Directors Special Award during the XIII World Meeting on the Teaching of Portuguese, held online on August 9 and 10, 2024.

Eugênia Fernandes, Assistant Professor of Portuguese at Florida International University and President of the AOTP shared the speech she gave at the occasion to honor his legacy:

Dr. Luis Gonçalves has made an exceptional contribution to the teaching and promotion of Portuguese in the United States. He has an impressive academic and professional career, holding a PhD in Romance Languages—Portuguese from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master’s degree in Luso-Brazilian Literature from the same institution. In addition to serving as a Lecturer in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese at Princeton University and as Interim Director of the Portuguese program at the same university, he is also the director of the Middlebury Portuguese School.

The successful initiatives we have today at AOTP have greatly benefited from his contributions as editor of the Portuguese Language Journal and executive director of the World Meeting on the Teaching of Portuguese. Luis worked tirelessly to consolidate AOTP during his presidency from 2014 to 2022 and to keep Portuguese at the forefront of policy discussions as president of NCOLCTL from 2020 to 2023.

Credentials apart, I can say that I have had the honor of attending the "Luis Gonçalves School for Training Portuguese Teachers", along with many of you. The other day, I joked in one of our groups that Lucinda shares her father with several other children—us, Portuguese teachers.

Luis, in addition to being a great professional and AOTP friend, is a mentor who supports us by paving the way, showing us solutions, and reminding us that teaching, when done with kindness and humanity, is fruitful. 

The Special Award from the Director of the American Organization of Teachers of Portuguese is a tribute to your exemplary work, Dr. Gonçalves, as well as to your dedication and significant impact on the field of Portuguese teaching. 

We are so proud to have learned from you. Congratulations on your trajectory and legacy!