Cortney Benjamin
Curriculum vitae
September 2016
Department of Modern Languages
307 Olin Hall
University of Akron
Akron, OH 44325
Phone: (701) 730-2016
E-mail: [email protected]
EDUCATION
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
Ph.D. in Spanish Literature. Department of Spanish and Portuguese, May 2016
Dissertation: “Traveling Women as Spectacle: Vision, Performance, and Female
Subjectivity in the Early Modern Hispanic World”
Advisor: Ana M. Rodríguez-Rodríguez
M.A. in Spanish Literature. Department of Spanish and Portuguese, May 2011
Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana
B.A. in Spanish, French, and Gender and Sexuality Studies. Newcomb College, May 2009
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
Research Awards
Ballard and Seashore Dissertation Fellowship. Graduate College, University of Iowa, Spring 2016
“This fellowship program provides an opportunity for doctoral students to benefit from a
final semester of protected and supported time to focus on completing their scholarly
research activities and the writing of their dissertations.”
Ruth Davis Fellowship. Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Iowa, Summer 2014
“The Ruth Davis Fellowship Award is given annually to support full-time academic work
during the summer by advanced doctoral students in the University of Iowa’s Department
of Spanish and Portuguese. This award includes a two-month fellowship and covers
summer tuition. One fellowship will be granted each year.”
Graduate College SIF Summer Fellowship. Graduate College, University of Iowa, Summer 2013
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Travel Grants
UI Newberry Travel Award. College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. University of Iowa, Spring 2015
Graduate Student Senate Travel Funds Award for Scholarly Presentations. University of Iowa,
Fall 2014
Graduate Student Senate Supplemental Travel Award for Research. University of Iowa, Summer
2014
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Round Table Participant, “Don Quixote’s Journeys: From the University of Iowa to the World.”
Parody, Plagiarism, Patrimony: Don Quixote in the Age of Electronic Reproduction,
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, October 22–24, 2015
“The Performative Potential of the Habit in the Viaje de cinco religiosas capuchinas de Madrid a
Lima.” 25th Annual Conference of the AILCFH (Asociación Internacional de Literatura y
Cultura Femenina Hispánica), Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 8–
10, 2015
“The Spectacle of the Traveling Woman in Ana Caro’s Valor, agravio y mujer.” GEMELA
(Grupo de Estudios sobre la Mujer en España y las Américas, pre–1800) Conference,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal, September 8–10, 2014
“From Nobleman to Muleteer: Disguised Masculinities in Don Quijote.” 2nd Annual World
Languages Graduate Conference, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, April 5, 2014
“The Renaissance Woman in Ana Caro’s Valor, agravio y mujer.” 66th Annual Kentucky
Foreign Language Conference, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, April
18–20, 2013
“Calderón de la Barca’s Amar después de la muerte and the Question of a Morisco Identity.”
65th Annual Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, University of Kentucky,
Lexington, Kentucky, April 19–21, 2012
“El pueblo mexicano idealizado en La navidad en las montañas: Ignacio M. Altamirano y el
proyecto de mestizaje para la nación.” 2nd Annual Spanish and Portuguese Graduate
Conference, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, April 2, 2011
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TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2016-present Assistant Professor of Instruction, Department of Modern Languages,
University of Akron
Courses taught:
Spanish Conversation
Intermediate Spanish II
Intermediate Spanish I
2009–2016
Teaching Assistant, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of
Iowa
Language Courses
Responsible for lesson planning, grading, and teaching all classes.
Courses taught:
Accelerated Intermediate Spanish
Intermediate Spanish II
Intermediate Spanish I
Elementary Spanish II
Elementary Spanish I
Literature and Culture Courses
Responsible for designing and leading three discussion sections, grading quizzes,
exams and essays, and assisting professor with lectures and exam preparation.
Courses taught:
Readings in Spanish Literature and Culture
Survey of Spanish culture, history, and literature from the medieval period
through the twenty-first century
Life in Spain
Course for study abroad students in Valladolid, Spain that focused on the
students’ cultural observations, the challenges the students faced, and the
cultural and historical information for cities that the students would visit.
Supervisory Positions
Responsible for helping to prepare syllabi, writing and programing online exams
and quizzes, facilitating transition from face-to-face to hybrid class structure, and
collecting feedback on course materials.
Spanish General Education Program Level Supervisor, Intermediate Spanish I
and II, 2012–2013
Spanish General Education Program Level Supervisor, Elementary I, 2011–
2012
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Invited Teaching
“Don Quixote: Contemporary Readings and Artistic Viewpoints.” Honors course at the
University of Iowa, Fall 2015 (Professor Ana M. Rodríguez-Rodríguez). Taught class on “The
Captive’s Tale.”
“Contemporary Spanish American Literature.” Course for Spanish majors and minors at the
University of Iowa, Spring 2015 (Professor Adriana Méndez Rodenas). Taught classes on
Gabriel García Márquez’s La hojarasca and Rosario Castellanos’s El viudo Román.
Invited Teaching, Continued
“Don Quijote.” Course for advanced Spanish majors at the University of Iowa, Spring 2015
(Professor Ana M. Rodríguez-Rodríguez). Taught class on the female characters in Part II of
Don Quixote.
“Latin American Women Writers.” Course for Spanish majors and minors at the University of
Iowa, Spring 2014 (Professor Adriana Méndez Rodenas). Taught class on Sor Juana Inés de la
Cruz.
“Spain and the Early Mediterranean World.” Course for advanced Spanish majors at the
University of Iowa, Fall 2012 (Professor Ana M. Rodríguez-Rodríguez). Taught class on María
de Zayas’s “La esclava de su amante.”
Teaching Award
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. University of Iowa Council on Teaching, 2010–2011.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Participant in the Newberry Center for Renaissance Studies Weekend Workshop in Spanish
Paleography led by Carla Rahn Phillips, February 2015.
Assistant Editor. Hispanic Issues, 2013–2015
Under the direction of Nicholas Spadaccini and Luis Martín-Estudillo
Responsibilities: Communicated with volume authors and assisted in the copyediting
process of several volumes
Program Assistant. Iowa Regents Study Abroad Program to Valladolid, Spain, May-June 2012
Responsibilities: Taught one discussion section of the course “Life in Spain,” assisted the
director of the program with the organization of group activities and field trips, and
helped the undergraduate students plan independent travel through Spain.
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PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Senator. University of Iowa Graduate Student Senate. 2014–2015
Reviewer. Graduate Student Senate Travel Funds Committee. 2014–2015
President. World Languages Graduate Organization. 2013–2014
Executive Associate. Spanish and Portuguese Graduate Organization. 2012–2013
Trainer. Workshops for Incoming Spanish Teaching Assistants. August 2010–2014
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHPS
GEMELA: Grupo de Estudios sobre la Mujer en España y las Américas (pre-1800)
AILCFH: Asociación Internacional de Literatura y Cultura Femenina Hispánica
MLA: Modern Language Association
LANGUAGES
English: native
Spanish: fluent
French and Portuguese: reading knowledge