Maria Hernández

Maria Hernandez, Visiting Assistant Professor of French, joined Lafayette College in August 2018 after serving as Assistant Professor of French and Spanish at Rowan University. She was born and raised in France by immigrant Spanish parents and has a multicultural background. She is a native speaker of both French and Spanish, and she has lived in France, Spain, the UK, and the USA. Maria is a first-generation student who completed her BA in English and Spanish at the Université de Provence, France. She was given an Erasmus scholarship to pursue her first year of Masters at Middlesex University, UK, and she then completed her Masters in English at the Université de Provence. Maria is also a Fulbright alumna, as she participated in the prestigious program as a French Teaching Assistant at Willamette University, OR. She obtained her Ph.D. in French Literature, a Graduate Certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies, and a Graduate Certificate in Leadership at Rutgers University, NJ. Her research interests revolve around 16th and 17th-century literature, the development of the Western epistolary novel in Spain and France, and women writers. Her dissertation, “Échange de lettres d’amour. A commentated and annotated translation of Processo de cartas de amores, a forgotten epistolary novel,” presents an unprecedented translation of a 16th-century Spanish letter novel into French. She teaches courses in French and Spanish literature, as well as grammar, composition, and civilization.