Jeanette Zaragoza De Leon (Class of 2025, At Large) earned a Bachelor’s degree from Lesley College in early childhood education and an M. Div. from Pacific School of Religion. A graduate of the University of Puerto Rico with an M. A. in Translation, in 2016 Jeanette completed all requirements for a Master’s in Research in Translation and Interpretation Studies from Universitat Jaume I (UJI), Castellón de la Plana, in Spain, the title of her thesis “The Search for a Mendi-court Interpreter in The Amistad Case in order to Challenge the Institution of Slavery” and in 2018 earned her PhD. Her doctoral thesis received a cum laude, entitled “The Critical Translation and Interpreting Stories of the Amistad Case.” Rev. Dr. Zaragoza is trained and certified as a professional court, medical and conference interpreter. Her ministerial calling involves designing multilingual-multi rhythmic worship experiences towards a decolonizing church that invites worshippers to honor their ethnicity. She has extensive international, ecumenical and interfaith experience. Rev. Dr. Zaragoza is a PhD Visiting Researcher at Yale Divinity School and a Faculty Fellow at the Center for Race, Ethnicity and Transnational Migration at Yale University. She submitted her nomination at an invitation from the Council for Hispanic Ministries (El Colectivo of the UCC Latinx Ministries).
