Helena Percas

Helena Percas de Ponseti was a writer, essayist, scholar, and professor. She received her undergraduate degree from the Institut Maintenon in Paris, France, her Master's Degree from Barnard College and her Doctorate from Columbia University in New York. From 1948 to 1990 Percas was a Professor in the Spanish Department of Grinnell College, in Iowa, U.S. When she retired she was named Professor Emerita, and 10 years later, she established an annual award for the most outstanding senior in the Spanish Department, Helena Percas de Ponseti Senior Award in Spanish and created a fund for research in the area of Hispanic Culture. Furthermore, she donated to the college her valuable collection of books written by Latin American women.