Nation building in nineteenth-century Spanish American novels
Twentieth-century Spanish American literature and culture
Recent Courses Taught
Elementary Spanish 1101 (COD)
Intermediate Spanish 2201 (COD)
Intermediate Spanish 2202 (COD)
Culture and Civilization of Costa Rica 1800 (COD)
Introduction to Hispanic Literature (Penn State)
Survey of Spanish American Literature through "Modernismo" (Penn State)
Introduction to Latina/o Studies (Penn State)
Introduction to Literatures of the Americas (Penn State)
Intermediate Spanish Grammar and Composition (Penn State)
Current Projects
Literary translation (Spanish to English)
Study abroad program development
Study Abroad Leadership, Research, and Study
CoDirector of College of DuPage Study Abroad in San José, Costa Rica (2017)
CoDirector of Penn State Study Abroad in Havana, Cuba (2015)
Graduate Student Assistant of Penn State Study Abroad in Puebla, México (2015)
Dissertation Research at El Centro de Estudios Martianos in Havana, Cuba (2014)
Course on the Language and Culture of Náhuatl at El Colegio de Jalisco in Zapopan,
México (2009)
University Semester Abroad at Universidad Antonio de Nebrija in Madrid, Spain (2005)
Selected Recent Conference Presentations
"Global Leadership Development through Service Learning Abroad." The Harper College
Office of International Education and the Learning Assessment Committee: Assessing
Global and Intercultural Learning. Palatine, IL. (March 2017; with Donna Gillespie,
Edith Jaco, and Stephanie Quirk)
"Tableaux of Family Tragedy: Rethinking Suffering in Tomás Rivera's...And the Earth
Did Not Devour Him." Imagining Latino/a Studies: Past, Present, & Future. Panel Title:
"Reading Publics, Pedagogy, and Challenging Genre in Latino/a Literature." Chicago,
IL. (July 2014)
"Rhetorical Trappings: Fashioning the Body in Nineteenth-Century Cuba." Midwest Modern
Language Association Convention. Panel Title: "Body Work." Milwaukee, WI. (November
2013)
"Madness in Elena Garro's Los recuerdos del porvenir." Carolina Conference on Romance
Literatures. Panel Title: "Espejos mexicanos entre pasado y presente: lenguaje, memoria,
y ambigüedad." University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill, NC. (March
2012)
Memberships
Sigma Delta Pi National Hispanic Honorary Society (2003 – Present)
Education
Ph.D. Spanish American Literature, The Pennsylvania State University