Professor Sommer's research interests have developed from the 19th-Century novels that helped to consolidate new republics in Latin America through the particular aesthetics of minoritarian literature, including bilingual virtuosity, to her current more general pursuit of the constructive work in rights and resources that the arts and the humanities contribute to developing societies. Professor Sommer has enjoyed and is dedicated to developing good public school education; she has a B.A. from New Jersey's Douglass College for Women, and her Ph.D. is from Rutgers The State University.