Dr. Theresa L. Torres is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at University of Missouri. Some of her publications are: “Posadas.” The Catholic Encyclopedia (The Catholic University Press, 2003); “La Quinceañera: Traditioning and the Social Construction of the Mexican American Female” in Futuring our Past, ed. Orlando Espin, Gary Macy, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2006. Between 1999-2001, Dr. Torres received the Hispanic Theological Initiative Dissertation Award, the Hispanic Theological Initiative Special Mentoring Award, and the Hispanic Theological Initiative Doctoral Award from the Pew Foundation. She was also awarded a Social Science Research Training Fellowship from the Office of Research for Religion in Society & Culture at City University of New York in 1999-2000. Dr. Torres's areas of research include women and religion, women and gender studies, religious identity and social activism, the Roman Catholic Church, popular religion among Latinos, new immigrants, and the history of the Latina/o Westside of Kansas City, Missouri. Dr. Torres has completed a manuscript on Latina leadership in the Westside neighborhood of Kansas City and is currently working on her second manuscript on Latina leadership and spirituality.