On January 15, 2016, Maricarmen Torres Medina, defended her thesis titled Construir el "otro", resistir: la vivienda pública y la organización comunitaria en Puerto Rico, a translation from English into Spanish of Constructing the "Other", Practicing Resistance: Public Housing and Community Politics in Puerto Rico by Melissa Fernández Arrigoitia.
The Thesis Committee, formed by Alejandro Álvarez Nieves, P.h. D., María M. Carrión, Ph. D., and her thesis advisor, Aurora Lauzardo, Ph. D., awarded her thesis the grade sobresaliente.