Media Guide to WCU Faculty Experts
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Dr. Emily Aguilo-Perez
Professor
College of Arts & Humanities - English
Bio
Dr. Emily R. Aguiló-Pérez (ella/she/her) is a Professor of English at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, specializing in children’s literature, girlhood studies, and Latinx youth culture. She is the author of An American Icon in Puerto Rico: Barbie, Girlhood, and Colonialism at Play (Berghahn, 2022) and co-author of Islas lectoras: Bibliografía crítica de literature infantil puertorriqueña (Destellos, 2023). She is also co-editor of The Cultural Legacy of Disney: A Century of Magic (Bloomsbury, 2024), Barbie in the Media: The Transmedia Presence of Mattel’s Celebrity Doll (Palgrave, 2025), and #Barbie and Social Media: Digital Discourses and Mattel’s Celebrity Doll (Palgrave, 2025). Her work explores how books, toys, media, and pop culture shape identity and representation. Dr. Aguiló-Pérez has been featured on PBS NewsHour, Knowledge@Wharton, and the New Books Network, and frequently speaks at museums, public lectures, and academic events. Her research has appeared in The Looking Glass: New Perspectives on Children’s Literature, Oxford Bibliographies in Childhood Studies, and Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures, among others. She has served on national children’s book award committee, including the 2018 Pura Belpré Award and the 2022 John Newbery Award. Her current research examines Disney’s Latinx representations in media and merchandising.
Expertise
- English
- Liberal Studies
- Children’s Literature
- Childhood Studies
- Toys and Media Studies
- Girlhood Studies
- Barbie Studies
- Latinx Studies
- Popular Culture
- Disney Studies
- Languages and Cultures
Education
- B.A., University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez
- M.A., University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez
- Ph.D., Penn State University
- Graduate Certificate, Penn State University
Media
Podcast, Nuevos Horizontes, 2025
Article, PBS Newshour, 2023
Article, El País, 2023
Podcast, New Books Network, 2023
Podcast, Salon B., 2021
Podcast, KidLit These Days, 2020
Radio/Podcast, Knowledge@Wharton, 2018