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Faculty Profiles

Majd Al-Mallah

Professor of Arabic

Majd Al Mallah

 

Publications
In the Shadows of the Master: Al-Mutanabbi’s Legacy and the Quest for the Center in Fatimid and Andalusian Poetry. Berkshire: Berkshire Academic Press, 2012. 
Dictionary of Literary Biography: Twentieth-Century Arab Writers.  Edited by Majd Al-Mallah and Coeli Fitzpatrick. Detroit, Gale Group, 2009.

Research

  • classical Arabic poetry
  • Arabic women authors in al-Andalus
  • modern Arabic fiction
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Degrees
Ph.D., East Asian Languages and Civilizations (Chinese), 2016
Arizona State University-Tempe, School of International Letters and Cultures (SILC)
M.A., Chinese Literature, 2004
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of East Asian Languages and Literature
B.A. Honors, in Chinese Language and Literature, 1998
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Research

  • Pre-modern Chinese literature
  • Tang-Song dynasty narrative literature, especially miscellany (biji)
  • Identity building and social and familial networks among intellectuals in Southern Song transition period
  • Readership and reception of miscellany in the Song dynasty

Megan Cai

Associate Professor of Chinese

Meghan Cai
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Anne Caillaud

Professor of French

Anne Caillaud

 

Degrees
Ph. D., French Medieval Literature (1992)
Michigan State University
M.A., French Literature (1987) 
Michigan State University
Maîtrise, English language/American Civilization (1983)
Université Charles V - Paris VII

Research

  • Women Studies and Medieval Courtly Narratives
  • Satirical Medieval Literature (the fabliaux)
  • French Cinema and Culture 
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Degrees
Ph.D., French (2004)
University of Iowa
M.A., French (1993)
University of Iowa 
B.A., English/French (1989)
Central College

Research

  • Seventeenth and Eighteenth-century French literature and culture, the Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment
  • Metalexicography
  • Game-based learning

David Eick

Professor of French

David Eick
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Carmen Fernandez Florez

Associate Professor of Spanish

Carmen Fernandez Florez

 

Degrees
Ph.D., Hispanic Linguistics (2019)
The University of Arizona
M.A., Secondary Language Education (May 2018)
UNED (Madrid, Spain)
M.A., Foreign Language Pedagogy (2014)
The University of Utah

Research

  • Sociolinguistics
  • Spanish in Contact
  • Second And Heritage Language Acquisition
  • Foreign Language Pedagogy
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Degrees
Ph.D., Hispanic Literatures
Vanderbilt University
M.A., Hispanic Literatures
Vanderbilt University

Research

  • Contemporary literature and film in Mexico
  • Youth cultures and representation in contemporary literature and visual culture in Mexico (60s-70s)
  • U.S--Mexico relations and cultural exchanges

Mayra Fortes Gonzalez

Associate Professor of Spanish

Mayra Fortes Gonzalez
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Laura Fox

Assistant Professor of Spanish (Linguistics)

Laura Fox

 

Degrees
M.A. in Hispanic Linguistics
Indiana University
B.A. 
The College of Wooster

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Degrees
Ph.D., Spanish Literature (2015) 
Yale University
M.S., Library and Information Sciences (2009)
University of Illinois
B.A., Comparative and World Literature and Spanish with honors (2007)
University of Illinois

Publications

Monographs
Natural Designs: Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo and the Invention of New World Nature.
            University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023.

Articles
“Con la garganta abierta: La retórica en la lucha por la Amazonía en Un viejo que leía novelas de amor.” Revista Iberoamericana, Vol. LXXXV, No. 266, January-March 2019, pp. 153-166. 

“Framing the Indies: The Renaissance Aesthetics of Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo (1478-1557).” Colonial Latin American Review. Vol. 28, 2019, pp. 130-151.

 “‘Written in the Memory of the Living’: The Boundaries of History in Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo’s Sumario and Historia general.” Revista de Estudios Hispánicos. Vol. 53, No. 3, 2019, pp. 1015-1036.

“El agua y la inmortalidad poética en las églogas de Garcilaso de la Vega.” Hipogrifo. Vol. 8, No. 1, 2020, pp. 411-424.

Research

  • New World natural histories
  • Renaissance visual culture
  • Early modern scientific culture

Elizabeth Gansen

Associate Professor of Spanish

Elizabeth Gansen
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Jason Herlands

Associate Professor of Japanese

Jason Herlands

 

Degrees
Ph.D.
University of Michigan

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Degrees
Ph.D. in Germanic Linguistics (2001)
University of Wisconsin - Madison

Research

  • Interconnection of historical social interaction/change and language change in German
  • Linguistics (any language): general linguistics, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics and historical sociolinguistics

Regina Koehler

Associate Professor of German

Regina Koehler
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Yan Liang

Professor of Chinese

Yan Liang
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Degrees
Ph.D., Hispanic Linguistics, University of Minnesota
M.A., Hispanic Linguistics, University of Minnesota
B.S., Spanish Education, University of Wisconsin, La Crosse

Research

  • Second Language Pedagogy
  • Second Language Acquisition
  • Curriculum Analysis and Design
  • Phonology

Marie Mangold

Assistant Professor of Spanish

Marie Mangold
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Janel Pettes-Guikema

Professor of French

Janel Pettes Guikema

Degrees
Ph.D., French & Second Language Acquisition (2004)
The Pennsylvania State University
M.A., French Language & Literature (1996)
Bowling Green State University

 Research

  • Civil Discourse & Intercultural Competence in World Language Education
  • Development of Multi/Digital Literacies in Language Learning
  • Game-Based Learning for World Languages 
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Degrees
Ph.D., Spanish Literature
University of Pennsylvania 
M.A., Spanish Literature
University of Pennsylvania 

Research

  • 19th-21st century Spanish peninsular narrative fiction, especially that written by women
  • fiction, film, poetry, memoirs, photography, graphic novels about the Spanish Civil War

Gabriela Pozzi

Professor of Spanish

Gabriela Pozzi
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Jeremy Robinson

Associate Professor of Japanese

Jeremy Robinson

 

Degrees
Ph.D., Japanese Literature
University of Michigan
M.A., Japanese Literature
University of Colorado
B.A., Japanese Language and Literature
B.A., Chinese Language and Literature
University of Colorado

Research

  • Premodern Japanese poetry and poetic theory
  • Premodern hybrid text/image works
  • Traditional Japanese Theater
  • Japanese humor
  • Japanese folklore and the supernatural
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Degrees
Ph.D., Romance Linguistics
University of New Mexico
M.A., Spanish
University of Virginia

Keith Watts

Professor of Spanish

Keith Watts
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Jason Yancey

Professor of Spanish

Jason Yancey

Jason Yancey is a cofounder of the Dragoncillo Puppet Troupe, a director and translator of early modern Spanish theatre, and a Professor of Spanish at Grand Valley State University. He has more than 25 years of experience building and performing with puppets for diverse audiences in ways that blend language, literature, culture, and educational outreach. In 2024, his shadow puppet adaptation of Don Quixote (¡Quijóteres!) received the Walker Reid Comedia Production Prize from the Association for Hispanic Classical Theatre. He is also a recipient of GVSU’s Pew Excellence in Teaching Award (2015), and the Outstanding Community Service Award (2025).

Page last modified October 28, 2025