Education:

1998 - University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA. Ph.D. in Latin American Literature. Minor in Peninsular Literature (Baroque and Contemporary).
1988 - Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT. M.A. in Spanish Literature.
1985 - Gannon University, Erie, PA. B.A, in Foreign Languages and Literatures: Spanish and French. Pennsylvania Teaching Certificate, K-12, Spanish and French.
1984 - Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. Semester of study with Brethren Colleges Abroad.

Honors include:

2006 David A. Portlock Award for Outstanding International Educator, Pennsylvania Council on International Education (PACIE)
2002 Teaching Excellence Award, Mercyhurst University
1992 Fulbright Teaching Exchange to Mexico, DF, Mexico

Recent Presentations:

“Deviance and Defiance: Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict by Irene Vilar”, Circles of Community Gender Conference, Penn State Behrend, April 16, 2017.

“Playing for America: Inclusion and Exclusion in The Gods of Tango, by Carolina     de Robertis”. Northeastern Modern Languages Association. Hartford, CT. April,     2016.

“‘A Daughter, After all’: Reconstructing the Family in Perla, by Carolina de Robertis.” Northeastern Modern Languages Association. Boston, MA. March 22, 2013

“If they can’t explain how they went away”: The Use of Memory in Perla, by Carolina de Robertis”. 25th Annual Pennsylvania Foreign Languages Conference. Dusquesne University. October 2012.

“Doing it Differently: Meeting the Challenge (Imperfectly) of Feminist Pedagogy in a Women in Hispanic Civilization Class”.  24th Annual Pennsylvania Foreign Literatures Conference. Duquesne University. September 23-24, 2011.

“Resisting Paradise: Gioconda Belli’s Re-vision of Creation.” XX Congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Literatura y Cultura Femenina Hispánica. Austin, TX. October 2010.

“El infinito en la palma de la mano: Feminist Revision as Midrash.” 22nd Annual Pennsylvania Foreign Language Conference. Dusquesne University. October 2009.

“History Lessons: El pergamino de la seducción by Gioconda Belli and Malinche by Laura Esquivel.” XVIII Congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Literatura y Cultura Femenina Hispánica, Atlanta,       GA. October 2008

Research Publications:

Mentoring the Next Generation: In Praise of the Student Teacher.”  PSMLA      Forum, 84: 1. Fall 2014, 8.

“At the Intersection of Catholic and Mercy: There’s an Elephant in the Room”.       With Richard McCarty and Mary Hembrow Snyder. Journal of Catholic Higher      Education. 33:1. 2014, 63-74.

Book review. Mexican Women and the Other Side of Immigration by Luz Maria     Gordillo.  Letras Femeninas. 38: 02. 2012.

“La cómplice oficial: Catalina in Arráncame la vida by Angeles Mastretta.” In                   The Woman in Latin America and Spanish Literature: Essays on Iconic                        Characters. Eds. Eva Paulina Bueno and Maria Claudia Andre. Jefferson, NC:                   McFarland and Co. 2012.

Book review. El infinito en la palma de la mano by Gioconda Belli. Hispanic Journal. February, 2010.

“House of Mist and La última niebla: María Luisa Bombal Between Two Worlds”. Latin American Literary Review. 37:73. Spring 2009.

Awards:

Teaching Excellence Award, Pennsylvania Modern Languages Association. October       2016.

David A. Portlock Outstanding International Educator Award, Pennsylvania Council for International Education (PaCIE). 2006

Teaching Excellence Award, Mercyhurst College, 2002.