Professionally, Noemi Vega Quiñones is a Ph.D. candidate in Religious Ethics at Southern Methodist University. Noemi migrated with her family to the United States when she was five and fell in love with reading when she was eight. Her undergraduate research focused on severe mental illness and burden of care in Mexican American communities of California’s central valley. Noemi’s master’s research focused on covenant epistemology and an evangélica theology of Emmanuel to begin deconstructing racialized theologies. She is the recipient of the Thesis of the Year award from Fresno Pacific University, the Mustang Fellowship from Southern Methodist University, the Schubert M. Ogden Award for Academic Excellence in Theology, and the Louisville Dissertation Fellowship. Noemi is currently conducting an eighteen-month ethnography for her dissertation. Noemi’s research interests include virtue ethics and buen vivir, migration systems, and indigenous, womanist and Latina feminist theologies and epistemologies. Noemi aspires to contribute to the work of anti-racialization and ethics en conjunto with her communities.

Personally, Noemi is the proud daughter of immigrant parents and the fun, quirky tia of many nieces and nephew. When she is not dissertating, Noemi can be found walking her happy pup, taking a kickboxing class, spending time with her family and friends, navigating the complexities of relationships, or lounging on her couch with a good comedy. Noemi is thankful for life, in all of its challenges and possibilities.