Dr. McMahon serves as the Director of Faculty Development and Professor of Spanish at Seton Hill University. She received her Ph.D. in Spanish Literature from the University of California, Irvine, and she also holds an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction, an M.A. in English Literature, and an M.A. in the Teaching of Languages.

Her most recent book is a co-edited collection titled A Laboratory of Her Own: Women and Science in Spanish Culture (Vanderbilt University Press 2021). She has also published the co-edited collection African Immigrants in Contemporary Spanish Texts: Crossing the Strait (Routledge/Ashgate Press 2015, 2nd edition 2020) as well as a monograph focused on Clara Janés's Poetry titled Cultural Encounters in Contemporary Spain (Bucknell Press 2010). In addition, she has published articles in Hispania, Anales de la Literatura Española Contemporánea, Afro-Hispanic Review, Letras Femeninas, Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Production of the Luso-Hispanic World, Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures, and Studies in 20th and 21st Century Literature and Culture.

She loves to travel and has lived in, traveled to, or taken students on trips to the following places: Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Morocco, India, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, and Germany.

Dr. McMahon is also living proof that it is never too late to learn a language! She did not begin studying Spanish until after graduating from college (she was an English Education and Religious Studies Double Major), so she often tells students that her experience is proof that non-native speakers, even those at or beyond college age, can become experts in a foreign language.

Education

• Ph.D., Spanish. University of California, Irvine, 2006

• M.A.T.L. Spanish. University of Southern Mississippi, Morelia, Mexico, 2001

• M.A. English. University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, 2000

• M.A. Curriculum and Instruction. University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, 1998

• B.A. English and Religious Studies. Tabor College, Hillsboro, KS, 1996

Publications

• Books:

  • A Laboratory of Her Own: Women and Science in Spanish Culture. Co-edited with Victoria L. Ketz and Dawn Smith-Sherwood. Vanderbilt University Press, 2021. 
  • African Immigrants in Contemporary Spanish Texts: Crossing the Strait. Ed. Debra Faszer-McMahon and Victoria L. Ketz. Burlington, VT: Ashgate / Routledge Press, 2015. 2nd edition, 2020.
  • Cultural Encounters in Contemporary Spain: The Poetry of Clara Janés. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell UP, 2010. 

  Articles in Refereed Journals and Edited Collections:

• "Saharaui Women Writers in Spain: Voices of Resistance in Mil y un poemas saharauis II." 21st Century Arab and African Diasporas. Cristián Ricci, ed. Routledge Press, 2022. Forthcoming.
• "Science in the Works of Clara Janes: A Poetics of Theoretical (Meta)Physics." In A Laboratory of Her Own: Women and Science in Spanish Culture. Victoria L. Ketz, Dawn Smith-Sherwood and Debra Faszer-McMahon.
• "Moroccan Immigrant Authors and Transnational Feminism in Najat El Hachmi's Mare de llet i mel and Lamiea El Amrani's Poesia femenina y sociedad. Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the luso Hispanic World. Vol. 9.4. 2020: 1-23.
• "Images of the Global Hispanophone: Transnational Iconography in Saharaui Literature." Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures. 72.1 (2018): 13-26.
• “Conversaciones con Bahia Mahmud Awah: Recuperación de la memoria cultural saharaui.” Afro-Hispanic Review. 34.1 (Spring 2016): 137-152.
• “Poetics and Politics: Digital Interventions in Sahrawi Cultural Production.”  Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World. Special Issue: Sahara. 5.3 (2015): 20-39.
• “Introduction. Representations of African in Contemporary Spain: Literatures and Cultures Crossing the Strait.” African Immigrants in Contemporary Spanish Texts: Crossing the Strait. London: Ashgate Press, 2015. 1-36.
• “African Poetics in Spain: Um Draiga and the Voices of Contemporary Saharaui Poetry.” African Immigrants in Contemporary Spanish Texts: Crossing the Strait. London: Ashgate Press, 2015. 223-40.  
• “Traducción y migración de textos poéticos en la obra de Clara Janés.” EU-topías 5.1 (July 2013): Universitat de Valencia.

• “Social Networking, Micro-lending and Translation in the Spanish Service-Learning Classroom.” Special Topics Issue: The Scholarship of Community Engagement. Hispania 96.2 (June 2013). 252-263.

• “Migration and the Foreign in Contemporary Spanish Poetry: El sueño de Dakhla (Poemas de Umar Abass) (2008) by Manuel Moya.  Special Topic: Defining Differences – 20th and 21st Century Spanish Poetry. Studies in 20th and 21st Century Literature. 36 (Summer 2012).  340-355.

• “Cultural Contact through Musical Poetry in Clara Janés’s Kampa.”  Hispania 92.1 (Winter 2009): 25-36.

• “Women and the Discourse of Underdevelopment in Rosa Chacel’s Memorias de Leticia Valle,” Letras Femeninas (Winter 2007). 13-32.

• “Poetry and Postmodernism in Almodóvar’s Hable con ella.”  Anales de la literatura española contemporánea 31.1 (Spring 2006): 47-70. 

• “Secrets of Poetic Translation in the Work of Clara Janés: Homage to Adonis in Variables ocultas. Secretos y verdades: Los textos de Clara Janés. London: Peter Lang, 2014. 81-104.

Awards

• UISFL Grant (Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language) - US Department of Education. “Bridges to Understanding: African, Latin American, and Caribbean Languages and Cultures.” Funded in 2022 for delivery & curricular development 2022-2024: $200,000.

• National Endowment for the Humanities Grant – Summer Institute for K-12 Educators: “Grappling with Genocide: Fostering Empathy & Engagement through Text and Image.” Funded in 2021 for delivery in 2022. $174,426.41.

• 2020: KIVA.org Translator of the Month Award (for volunteer Spanish translations to support micro-lending in Latin America)

• 2017: Excellence in Assessment Award, Seton Hill University. For developing Integrated Performance Assessments (IPAs) for Medical Spanish curriculum.

• 2017: Summer International Research Grant for Research in Spain, Seton Hill University.

• 2015: TalkAbroad curriculum development grant: "Authentic Conversational Practice and Self-Reflection via Voicethread and TalkAbroad. Principle researcher.

• 2014: Summer International Research Grant, Seton Hill University.

• 2012: Invited Symposium Address at the University of Texas at Austin: “Traducción y migración de textos poéticos en la obra de Clara Janés.” UT Austin Poetry Symposium: “Extrañeza, Extranjería, Migración: Poéticas para el Siglo XXI.” Austin, October 26-28, 2012.

• 2012: Invited External Reviewer – Program Evaluation: The University of St. Joseph, Hartford Connecticut. Nov. 6-7, 2012.

• 2011: Seton Hill Student Government Association “Honorary Member of the Month” Award, October 2011. Awarded for support of the goals and activities of SHGA.

• 2008: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) Award Recipient. First-time Presenter, San José, Costa Rica. July 8-11, 2008.

• 2006: Feministas Unidas Essay Prize for “Women and the Discourse of Underdevelopment in Rosa Chacel’s Memorias de Leticia Valle.”

• 2006: P.E.O. Scholar Award

• 2005-2006: Regents’ Dissertation Fellowship, University of California, Irvine

• 2005: Spanish Ministry of Culture Research Grant, Program for Cultural Cooperation

• 2005: Research Grant, International Center for Writing and Translation; UCI

• 2004: Best Program Graduate Student Essay Award, UCI: “El hombre salvaje y el amor ‘civilizador’ en El amante liberal de Cervantes.”

• 2003-2004: Chancellor’s Fellow, University of California, Irvine.

• 2003: National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar: “Critical Approaches to Hispanic Poetry at the Turn of the Century.” Led by Andrew P. Debicki and Jill S. Kuhnheim

• 1995: Pew Younger Scholar, Pew Charitable Trusts, University of Notre Dame.

• 1992-1996 National Merit Scholar, Tabor College

Organizations

• AATSP: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese

• ACTFL: American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

• AILCFH: Asociación internacional de literatura y cultura femenina hispánica

• MLA: Modern Language Association

• NEMLA: Northeast Modern Language Association

Presentations

• “Enhance Proficiency and Teach Intercultural Empathy via Narrative 4 International Story Exchanges. American Association for the Teaching of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP). Salamanca, Spain, June 2023.

• “The Metrópoli and Memory in the Work of Bahia Mahmud Awah: El sueño de volver.” Modern Language Association International Conference (MLA). San Francisco, CA, January 2023.

• “Using International Story Exchanges to Teach Culture and Enhance Linguistic Proficiency.” Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association Conference, Lancaster, PA, October 13-15, 2022.

• “Saharaui Women (Tran)scribing the Nation: Gender and Genre in 21st Century Spanish Culture.” Modern Language Association International Conference (MLA). Panel: Gender and Black Subjectivities in Spain Today. Washington, DC, January 2022.

• “Using Simulations to Foster Conversations about Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice.” Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association. Philadelphia, PA, Oct. 13-16, 2021.

• “High-impact Practices for Developing Empathy and Intercultural Linguistic Competence.” PSMLA (Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association). Oct. 24-26, 2019. State College, PA.

• “STE(A)M in 21st Century Spanish Poetry: The Case of Clara Janés” Kentucky Foreign Language Conference. April 11-13, 2019. Lexington, KY.

• “Using Digital and Real-World Simulations to Teach Intercultural Linguistic Competence.” PSMLA (Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association). Oct. 11-13, 2018. Pittsburgh, PA.

• “IPAs for the Professions: Integrated Performance Assessments using Telenovelas, Documentaries, and Spontaneous Encounters in Medical Spanish.” 100th Annual AATSP Conference (American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese). Salamanca, Spain. June 25-28, 2018.

• “Literature Professors versus Language Teachers: Bridging MLA Divisions via ACTFL’s IPA, OPI and WPT.” Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA). Pittsburgh, PA. April 12-15, 2018.

• “Imagining the Global Hispanophone: Memory and Transnational Iconography in Saharaui Literature.” Mid-American Conference on Hispanic Literatures (MACHL). Washington University in St. Louis. Oct. 26-28, 2017.

• “Medical Spanish and Authentic Assessments: IPAs for the Professions.” Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association (PSMLA). Harrisburg, PA. October 5-7, 2017.

• “Using the Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA) in Post-Secondary ‘Content’ Courses.” IUP Spring Methodologies Conference on Foreign Language Teaching. Indiana University of Pennsylvania. April 21, 2017.

• “Science in the Works of Clara Janés: A Poetics of Theoretical (Meta)Physics.” Mid-American Conference on Hispanic Literatures (MACHL). University of Kansas. November 3-5, 2016.

• “Multimodal Conversational Exchange via TalkAbroad for Enhancing Oral Proficiency in Spanish.” 98th Annual Conference of the AATSP (American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. Miami, Florida. July 8-11, 2016.

• “Cubaraui Consciousness: Postcolonial Identities between Western Sahara, Cuba, and Spain.” Global Hispanophone Forum. 131st Annual Modern Language Association Convention (MLA). Austin, Texas. January 7-10, 2016.

• “Digital Poetics and Saharawi Immigrant Culture in Spain.” Council of European Studies Conference. Paris, France. Panel organized by Jill Robbins and Sonia Roncador: “Migrations in 21st Century Iberian Cultures”. July 8-10, 2015.

• “The Ethics of Memory in Bahia Mahmud Awah’s Spanish-Saharaui Relatos.” 68th Annual KFLC (Kentucky Foreign Language Conference): Lexington, KY. April 23-25, 2015.

• “Trauma Theory and African Poetics in Spain.” 12th International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities. Madrid, Spain. San Pablo University. June 11-13, 2014.

• “Situated Writing and Nomadic Poetics: Ritos de jaima (2012) by Limam Boisha.” 67th Annual KFLC (Kentucky Foreign Language Conference). Lexington, Kentucky. April 10-12, 2014.

• “Poetic Translation and Variables ocultas.” Panel: Artistic Affinities and Feminist Thought in the Works of Clara Janés. 129th Annual MLA (Modern Language Association). Chicago. January 9-12, 2014.

• “21st Century Spanish Poetry by and about Saharaui Women.” 23rd Annual Conference of the AILCFH (Asociación Internacional de Literatura y Cultura Femenina Hispanica). The Claremont Colleges, Pomona CA. Oct. 10-12, 2013.

• “Gaming to Learn: Lotería, Bicentenario, and Authentic Cultural Texts through Games.” Western PA Chapter of the AATSP. Seton Hill University. Saturday, Oct. 5th, 2013. With 1 student presenter – Anthony Palmiscno

• “Engaging Cultural Texts and Increasing Oral Proficiency via iPad Apps and Web 2.0 Tools.” 66th Annual Kentucky Foreign Language Conference (KFLC). Lexington, Kentucky. April 18-20, 2013.

• “Using iTunesU and iBooks Author to Promote Oral Proficiency in the Modern Language Classroom.” Indiana University of Pennsylvania Spring Methodology Conference. Chestnut Ridge, PA. April 26, 2013.

• “Traducción y migración de textos poéticos en la obra de Clara Janés.” Poetry Symposium: “Extrañeza, Extranjería, Migración: Poéticas para el Siglo XXI.” University of Texas, Austin. Invited symposium presentation. Austin, Texas. October 26-28, 2012.

• “Trafficking Texts: Crossing the Straits between Africa and Spain.” Mid-America Conference on Hispanic Literature (MACHL). October 12-14, 2012. Lincoln, Nebraska.

• “Poemas africanos and the Making/Marketing of Africa in Spanish Poetics.” 65th Annual Kentucky Foreign Language Conference (KFLC). Lexington, Kentucky. April 19-22, 2012.

• “Poetics of Migration in Spain: Um Draiga (2007) and the Voices of Contemporary Saharaui Poetry.” Kentucky Foreign Language Conference (KFLC) Annual Convention. Lexington, Kentucky April 13-16, 2011.

• “Encounters with Sinbad: Poetic Visions of Arab African Others in Miriam Jurado’s La muchacha del mar rojo.” Northeastern Modern Language Association (NEMLA) 41st Annual Convention. Montreal, Canada, April 7-11, 2010.

• “Migration and the Foreign in Contemporary Spanish Poetry: El sueño de Dakhla (Poemas de Umar Abass) by Manuel Moya.” Kentucky Foreign Language Conference. Lexington, Kentucky, April 16-18, 2009.

• “Approaching Borders through Poetic Translation: The Case of Contemporary Spain.” SCMLA (South Central Modern Language Association). San Antonio, TX. November 6-8, 2008.

• “Service Learning through KIVA Translations in the Intermediate Language Classroom.” AATSP (American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese). San Juan, Costa Rica. July 8-11, 2008.

• “The Spanish Migration of an Ancient Islamic Legend: Culture and Mutual Being in Diván del ópalo de fuego (O la leyenda de Layla y Machnún).” NEMLA (Northeast Modern Language Association). Buffalo, New York. April 11-13, 2008.

• “Bridging the Island of the Self: Cultural Contact in Clara Janés’s Kampa.” Associación Internacional de Literatura y Cultura Femenina Hispánica (AILCFH), Sevilla, Spain, October 24, 2007.

• “Exploring Signs of Self in Clara Janés’s Espacios translúcidos: Translucent, not Transparent Culture,” University of Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, KY, April 21st, 2007.

• “El performance de la raza en And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself,” LASA 2006, San Juan, Puerto Rico, March 15-18.

• “Creating Poetic Space: Poetry in the Films of Saura and Almodovar,” Mid-America Conference on Hispanic Literatures, UC Boulder, October 2-4, 2003.

• “Peripheral Reflections on Postmodernism in Carlos Saura’s Tango,” Red River Conference on World Literature, April 25-27th, 2003.