Lina-Maria Murillo is an assistant professor in the Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies Department and History Department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. As one of the few Latina scholars in the college, Lina has become a mainstay for Latina/o/x students across the college. Lina centers a decolonial feminist standpoint while helping students of color navigate issues outside the classroom. She is a fierce advocate for students, including queer and trans students, who feel especially vulnerable. Her teaching and engagement serves as a model to create spaces that are affirmative and radical without reducing these terms to mere tokens. Perhaps no act demonstrates Professor Murillo’s rare gifts as a teacher as much as the way she taught her students—and her colleagues—to face loss this past year. When a student in the department tragically passed away, Lina worked with students to help them process their grief, create a vigil, and help honor their colleague’s memory. Lina is also nearing the completion of the first draft of her book, which has been solicited by the editor of a leading academic press.