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Home > Academics > College of Liberal Arts, Education, & Sciences > Liberal Arts Programs > Foreign Languages and Literatures > Faculty & Staff > Dr. Linda Materna
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Dr. Linda Materna

Chairperson, Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures; Professor of Spanish

Linda Materna is Chairperson of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and Professor of Spanish. She received her Ph.D. in Spanish from The University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Materna’s research includes feminist re-readings of Spanish Romantic theater, studies on the theater of the Generation of 1927, and analyses of contemporary Spanish theater and film. Publications and conference papers include a monograph on the theater of Eugenio Hartzenbusch, articles on Don Alvaro and El trovador, on the plays of Alberti, Lorca and Salinas, on the theater of Juan Mayorga and José Ramón Fernández, and on the films of Almodóvar. Her current research focuses on the theater of Fernández and Andrés Ruiz López, and on immigration in contemporary Spanish cinema. In addition to courses in Spanish language, literature, composition, culture and translation, Dr. Materna teaches in the Baccalaureate Honors Program. She is co-founder of the Central Jersey-Penn Foreign Language Academic Alliance. She is the first director of the Rider University Theme Program and has served as the Director of Study Abroad, and Chairperson of the Liberal Arts and Sciences Academic Policy Committee. Dr. Materna has received the Frank Elliott award for Distinguished Service and the Lindback Teacher of the Year Award.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

  • 1980 Ph.D., Spanish, The University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • 1971 M.A., Spanish, The University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • 1970 B.A., Spanish, Beloit College; Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa
     

FOREIGN LANGUAGES

  • Spanish: Near-native (ACTFL, 1987)
  • French: Reading (good); speaking (fair)
  • Portuguese: Reading (fair)

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

  • 1988-present  Rider University
  • 1987-88  The College of New Jersey, Assistant Professor of Spanish
  • 1985-87 Princeton University; Lecturer, Spanish
     

ADMINISTRATIVE BACKGROUND: Rider University

  • 2005-present  Chairperson, Foreign Languages and Literatures
  • 2000-2002  Director, Study Abroad
  • 1997-199  Director, University Theme Program

AWARDS

  • 2006, 2002, 1999, 1992  Summer Research Fellowship, Rider University
  • 2004, 1997  Sabbatical Leave, Rider University
  • 2001   Lindback Teacher of the Year Award, Rider University
  • 1998   Frank N. Elliott Service Award for Distinguished Service, Rider University
     

TEACHING: Rider University

  • Spanish:
    Beginning and Intermediate Spanish
    Advanced Grammar and Composition
    Writing and Translating for the Professions
    Spanish Culture and Civilization
    Introduction to Spanish Literature
    The Golden Age
    Modern Spanish Novel
    Modern Hispanic Poetry
    Hispanic Theater and Film
  • Baccalaureate Honors Program:
    Great Ideas 100 and 150
    Cultural Politics
    Political Culture of a Hi-Tech Society
  • Travel Courses:
    Over a dozen two-week study courses in Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Holland, Belgium, Italy and Mexico
     

INSTITUTIONAL SERVICE

  • Department of Foreign Languages:
    Department Chairperson
    Chinese Language Program
    Co-founder and Co-director, Central Jersey-Penn Foreign Language Academic Alliance Judge/Examination Preparer, Rider University Foreign Language Forensic Tournament
    Media Center Liaison
    Textbook Selection Coordinator-Spanish
    Pedagogy Workshops
    Film Series
    Fall Speakers’ Colloquium
    International Week
  • Rider University:
    Special Advisor to the Provost on Study Abroad
    Co-Chairperson, Internationalization Task Force
    Chairperson, Global and Area Studies Task Force
    Director, Study Abroad
    Co-creator/Director, University Theme Program
    Chairperson, Liberal Arts and Sciences Academic Policy Committee
    Chairperson, Technology Sub-committee, Middle States Accreditation
    President, Honor Key Society
    Baccalaureate Honors Program
    Women’s Studies Committee
     

RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

  • Life and Works of Spanish Playwright Andrés Ruiz López
  • The Theater of José Ramón Fernández
  • Immigration in Spanish Cinema

PUBLICATIONS

Monograph

  • "The Theater of Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch." in Major Spanish Dramatists, Vol. II ed. Mary Parker, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001.
     

Articles

  • “Staging History, Time and Memory: Two Plays by José Ramón Fernández on the 2006 Madrid Summer Stage.” New York, NY: Western European Stages, Spring 2007.
  • “Mujeres académicas: la representación femenina en la Real Academica Española." in Homenaje a la Real Academia Española y a la Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española. AATSP 88th Conference. Constitución del Capítulo de Salamanca. eds. Gómez Dacal, Gonzalo and Enrique Ruiz-Fornells. Miami, FL: Santillana, 2007.
  • “Globalization and African Immigration in Spain: Chus Gutiérrez’s Poniente (West) 2002” in Reflections on Europe in Transition ed. Ursula E. Beitter. New York: Peter Lang, 2007.
  • "El poder y la libertad del artista en 'Cartas de amor a Stalin' de Juan Mayorga." El próximo acto: teatro español en el siglo XXI. Eds. Sandra N. Harper and Polly J. Hodge (Delaware, OH: Estreno, 2006): 171-77.
  • “The Spanish Stage in Madrid and Seville: January 2002.” Western European Stages. April 2002.
  • "Mass Media, Popular Culture, and the Perversions of Simulacra Society in Democratic Spain:  The Films of Pedro Almodóvar." CD-ROM. zeitgeschichte.at  4. österreichischer Zeitgeschichetetag '99. Ed. Manfred Lechner/Dietmar Seiler [Hg.] (Innsbruck,  Austria: STUDIEN/Verlag, 1999).
  • "Prodigal Sons and Patriarchal Authority in Three Plays by Angel de Saavedra, Duque de Rivas: Lanuza, Don Alvaro o la fuerza del sino and El desengaño en un sueño," Letras peninsulares v11.2 (Fall 1998), 603-23.
  • "Lo femenino peligroso y el orientalismo en Los amantes de Teruel de Juan Eugenio   Hartzenbusch," Actas del XII Congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas. Tomo I: Del romanticismo a la guerra civil, Ed. Derek W. Flitter (Birmingham, UK: Department of Hispanic Studies, The University of Birmingham, 1998), 192-201.
  • "Female Eroticism in Democratic Spain: the Poetry of Ana Rossetti,"  CD-ROM. Selected Conference Proceedings of The International Society for the Study of European Ideas, 1998.
  • "La tecnología del poder y el incesto en El adefesio de Rafael Alberti," in De lo particular a lo universal.  El teatro español del siglo xx y su contexto, Ed. John P. Gabriele (Frankfurt:Vervuert Verlag, 1994), 92-100.
  • "Ideología y la representación de lo femenino en Don Alvaro o la fuerza del sino," Modern Language Studies XXIV:3 (Summer 1994), 14-27.
  • "Resistance and Containment of the Feminine in Spanish Romantic Theater:  The Example of Macías,"  Sexuality, the Female Gaze, and the Arts.  Women, the Arts, and Society, Eds. Ronald Dotterer and Susan Bowers (Susquehanna: Susquehanna UP, 1992), 145-54.
  • "El episodio Venus-Adonis en Noche de guerra en el Museo del Prado de RafaelAlberti:  intertextualidad linguística, pictórica e ideológica," Anales de la Literatura Española Contemporánea 15:1-3 (1990), 83-95.
  • "Ideology and the Vivification of Art in Pedro Salinas´ Los santos and Rafael Alberti´s Noche  de guerra en el Museo del Prado,"  Hispanófila 100 (1990), 15-28.
  • "Los códigos genéricos y la presentación de la mujer en el teatro de Lorca,"  Estelas,   laberintos, nuevas sendas. Unamuno. Valle-Inclán. García Lorca. La Guerra Civil,  Coord. Angel G. Loureiro (Barcelona: Antropos, 1988), 263-77.
  • "The Dialogue of Pedro Salinas´ La fuente del arcángel: A Dialectic of Poetry and   Realism," Hispanic Review 54:3 (Summer 1986), 297-322.
     

Reviews

  • “Jerónimo López Mozo’s Ella se va at the Galileo Theater.” Estreno XXXI: 1 (Primavera 2005), 4-5.
  • Campos García, Jesús.  A ciegas. Intro. Cristina Santolaria (Murcia: U. de Murcia, 1997) in Estreno. Cuadernos del Teatro Español Contemporáneo XXVII:2 (Otoño 2001).
  • Jerónimo López Mozo, Eloídes.  Biblioteca Antonio Machado de Teatro (Madrid: Visor,  1996) in Estreno XXVI:1 (Primavera 2000).
  • C. Christopher Soufas, Audience and Authority in the Modernist Theater of García Lorca  (Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama, 1996) in Estreno XXIV:1 (Primavera 1998).
  • Andrés Ruiz López, Rosas iluminadas, Intro. A. J. Domínguez (Murcia: Universidad de   Murcia, 1993) in Estreno XXII:2 (Otoño 1996).
     

Translations

  • Cain or a Scientific Glory ©  (Caín o una gloria científica) by Pedro Salinas. University Theme Handbook, Rider University 1998.
  • English translation of selected poems of Spanish poet and academic Julia Barella. http://www.poematema.com/creativa.html
     

Edited Texts

  • University Theme Handbook, Co-ed. with D. Cutts, Rider University 1998.
  • University Theme Handbook, Co-ed. with G. Barricklow, Rider University 1997.
     

CONFERENCE PAPERS

  • "El otro desestabilizador: representaciones del inmigrante africano en el cine español contemporáneo"; XXIX Simposio Internacional de Literatura. Los mundos posibles: nuevos paradigmas; Instituto Literario y Cultural. Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina; August 6-11, 2007.
  • "Espacios inhóspitos: exilio y diáspora en 'Poniente' de Chus Gutiérrez." Northeast Modern Language Association Convention; Baltimore, MD; March 1-4, 2007.
  • “Fetishized Difference and the Destabilizing Other: Representations of African Immigration in Spanish Cinema." Modern Language Association of America; Philadelphia, PA; December 27-30, 2006.
  • “La representación femenina en la Real Academia Española.” Invited Plenary Lecture; Plenary Session in Homage to the Real Academia Española; American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese Convention; Salamanca Spain; June 27-July 2, 2006.
  • “Poética y temática del teatro de José Ramón Fernández”; Asociación Hispánica de Humanidades Convention; Madrid, Spain; June, 2006.
  • “Elena Cánovas’ Theater of Liberation”; Northeast Modern Language Association Convention; Philadelphia, PA; March 2-5, 2006.
  • “Poética y temática del teatro de José Ramón Fernández”; invited presentation for panel dedicated to and attended by the playwright; Northeast Modern Language Association Convention; Philadelphia, PA; March 2-5, 2006.
  • “Globalization and African Immigration in Spain: Chus Gutiérrez’s Poniente (West) 2002”; The New Europe at the Crossroads IX. Adam Mickiewicz University. Poznan, Poland;” July 26-29, 2005. Accepted for publication in selected proceedings (Peter Lang).
  • “Globalization, Immigration and Identity in Spanish Film”; Northeast Modern Language Association Convention; Boston, MA; March 31-April 3, 2005.
  • “Madrid en el cine de Pedro Almodóvar”; III Congreso Internacional, “Madrid en la literatura”; Madrid, Spain; July 2004.
  • “Globalization and Immigration in Spanish Cinema,” 3rd International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities; Rhodes, Greece; July 2-5, 2003.
  • “Globalization and Its Discontents: Immigration and Gender in Rural Spain in Iciar Bollaín’s Flores de otro mundo”; Northeast Modern Language Association Convention; Boston; MA; March 6-9, 2003.
  • “Iciar Bollaín’s Flores de otro mundo: Immigration and Gender Issues in Rural Spain”; Annual Convention of The American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese; Río de Janeiro, Brazil; July 30-August 2, 2002.
  • "Padres e hijos: el poder del padre y la libertad del artista en Cartas de amor a Stalin de Juan Mayorga”;  El Próximo Acto: Teatro Español en el siglo XXI. A Symposium Sponsored by Estreno”; Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH; April 18-20, 2002.
  • "Un teatro fronterizo: la trilogía  del escenario vacío de José Sanchis Sinisterra”; Northeast Modern Language Association Convention; Hartford CT; March 2001.
  • "Andrés Ruiz López: un teatro silenciado"; AATSP Annual Convention; San Juan, Puerto Rico; August 2000.
  • "Nation, Memory and the Responsibility of the Artist: ¡Ay, Carmela! on Stage and Screen"; 3rd  International Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference; Birmingham, UK; June 2000.
  • "Pedro Salinas y su compromiso político: 'Cero' y la bomba atómica"; Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA) Convention; Buffalo; April 2000.
  • "Toward a Critique of Europeanizing Tendencies in Contemporary Spanish Cultural Expression: Cinema and Literature"; The New Europe at the Crossroads Conference; Berlin, Germany; July 1999.
  • "Mass Media, Popular Culture and the Perversions of Simulacra Soceity in Democratic Spain: the Films of Pedro Almodóvar"; 4th biannual Austrian convention on contemporary history at Graz; Graz, Austria; May 1999.
  • "Back to the Future: The Spiritual and Ethical Dilemmas of Technology and Free-Market Capitalism in the Theater of Pedro Salinas," NEMLA; Pittsburgh, PA; April 1999, and at Conference: "Milenarismo y Fin de Siglo"; Bucknell University; April 1999.
  • "Exit Stage Right: Conservatism, Consumerism and the Marginalization of Political Compromise: The Case of the Theater of Andrés Ruiz López"; Northeast Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, Drew University; October 1998.
  • "Eros and Capital: The Evolution of Cultural Expression in Democratic Spain"; Crossroads in  Cultural Studies, Second International Conference; Tampere, Finland; June/ July 1998.
  • "Identity, Eroticism and Power in the Theater of Andrés Ruiz"; Entre Actos: Diálogos sobre teatro español entre siglos. A Symposium sponsored by Estreno; University Park, PA; September 1997.
  • "The Domestication of the Romantic Heroine in Don Juan Tenorio"; Northeast Modern Language Association Convention; Philadelphia; April 1997.
  • "Sadomasochism, Eroticism and the Exercise of Power in Andrés Ruiz´s Rosas iluminadas"; Louisiana Conference on Hispanic Languages and Literatures (LA CHISPA); New Orleans; March 1997.
  • "Female Eroticism in Democratic Spain: the Poetry of Ana Rossetti";  Conference of the   International Society for the Study of European Ideas (ISSEI); Utrecht, Netherlands; August 1996.
  • "Lo femenino peligroso y el orientalismo en Los amantes de Teruel de Juan Eugenio   Hartzenbusch"; Congress of the Asociación Internacional de Hispanista; Birmingham, UK; August 1995.
  • "Prodigal Sons and Patriarchal Authority in Three Plays by Angel de Saavedra, el Duque de Rivas:  Lanuza (1822), Don Alvaro o la fuerza del sino (1835) and El desengaño en un sueño (1842)"; NEMLA; Boston; April 1995.
  • "La tecnología del poder y el incesto en El adefesio de Rafael Alberti"; Conference:  De lo particular a lo universal: el teatro español del siglo xx y su contexto; The College of Wooster; Wooster, Ohio; April 1993.
  • "El incesto y el ejercicio del poder en El adefesio de Rafael Alberti"; Northeast Modern Language Association Convention; Philadelphia; April 1993.
  • "Ideología y la representación de lo femenino en Don Alvaro o la fuerza del sino"; Congreso of  the Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas; U. of California-Irvine; August 1992.
  • "Sequencing Writing Assignments in the Spanish Literature Classroom"; Conference:   Bridging Theory and Practice in the Foreign Language Classroom;  Loyola College in Maryland; October 1991.
  • "Estructura e ideología en el teatro de la Generación del `27"; Northeast Modern Language Association Convention; Hartford; April 1991.
  • "Empowerment and the Contemporary Woman Writer of Spain: Eroticism in the Poetry of Ana Rossetti";  Panel: "Contemporary International Women Writers: Developing an Interdisciplinary Course on Contemporary World Literature by Women"; 8th Annual  Celebration of Our Work Conferenc; Rutgers University; May 1990.
  • "El episodio Venus-Adonis en Noche de guerra en el Museo del Prado de Rafael Alberti:  intertextualidad linguística, pictórica e ideológica"; Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association Convention; Las Vegas; October 1989.
  • "Angels of Death: The Heroine in Spanish Romantic Theater," Northeast Modern Language Association Convention; Wilmington; April 1989.
  • "Resistance and Containment of the Feminine in Spanish Romantic Theater: The Example of Macías"; Women, the Arts, and Society Conference; Susquehanna University; November 1988.
  • "The Vivification of Art in Pedro Salinas´ Los santos and Rafael Alberti´s Noche de guerra  en el Museo del Prado:  Idealism versus Marxist Ideology";  Conference Northeast American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese; Fordham; September 1988.
  • "Romantic Elements in the Theater of García Lorca"; Notheast Modern Language Association Convention; Boston; April 1987.
  • "Gender Codes and the Presentation of Women in Lorca´s Theater"; Conference: Spain `36: A  Five College Symposium; Mount Holyoke College; October 1986.
  • "Poetry in a Realistic Form:  La casa de Bernarda Alba"; Northeast Modern Language Association Convention; New Brunswick; April 1986.
     

SELECTED SEMINARS, LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS

  • 2004, 1997 “Spanish Romantic Theater,” U. Alcalá de Henares, Spain
  • 2004 “The American University Today: Realities and Challenges,” U. de Granada, Spain
  • 2003  “Using PowerPoint to Teach Film. Flores de otro mundo”; Central Jersey-Penn Foreign Language Academic Alliance; Rider University
  • 2001 Doctoral Lectures on Spanish Romantic Theater. University of Alcalá de Henares, Spain
  • 1997  "Cross-Cultural Awareness for the 21st Century"; Rider Student Leadership Conference
  • 1996   "Teaching Composition" Rider Spanish Faculty
  • 1989  "Sequencing Writing Assignments for Literature Courses"; Writing-Across-the-Curriculum; Rider College

CONFERENCE ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS

  • 2000-03  Executive Council, Director for Spanish; Northeast Mod
  • 1996-1999  Nominating Committee, Northeast Modern Language Association
  • 2007 2006, 2003, 1999, 1996, 1994, 1992, 1987 Chairperson for panels on Generation of 1898 and Modernism, Spanish Romanticism, Spanish Film and Spanish Theater, Northeast Modern Language Association Convention
  • 2002  Chairperson, “Culture and History in Contemporary Spanish Cinema, AATSP Convention; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 2002  Chairperson, “El teatro de Jaime Salom” Estreno Symposium