Faculty
John Chaimov
Associate Professor of German, Chair
B.A., University of California, San Diego
M.A., Ph.D., University of Chicago
Email: jchaimov@coe.edu
Research and academic interests:
Migration and cultural adaptation, Human Rights, Human Rights in Southeast Asia, volunteering and “volunteerism.”
Special programs involved with at Coe:
Off-Campus Study, Committee on Internationalization, Coe Human Rights Advocates.
Personal interests:
Tutoring at the local immigrant education center, volunteering at the immigration legal clinic, bicycling, sexual-assault prevention, bread baking.
Favorite Coe tradition:
Students doing good things in the community.
Why have you chosen to teach at Coe?
Coe students inspire me with their ownership of how campus runs, their boldness in going to live in the farthest corners of the globe, their hunger to learn, their dedication to making a difference in the lives of their friends and of neighbors in the community. Every day I think how lucky I am to spend most of my day here.
Joyce Janca-Aji
Associate Professor of French
B.A., Southern Illinois University-Carbondale
M.A., Ph. D., Indiana University-Bloomington
Email: jjanca@coe.edu
Research and academic interests:
20th-century and contemporary women's writing in French, nondual approaches to literature, and translation and contemplative studies.
Special programs involved in with at Coe:
May Term courses in Paris, Academic Coordinator of Gender and Sexuality Studies, organizer for the Teaching Translation Conference (2018) and co-coordinator of the Language-in-Community Summer Seminar (2018).
Favorite Coe tradition:
The Drag Show! It seems like the whole campus comes to support the LGTBQ community here - and has way too much fun doing so.
Why have you chosen to teach at Coe?
I wanted to teach what I love somewhere that would allow me to really get to know my students. I appreciate the warmth and the support of the entire community here- and that I can be creative in how I design courses to appeal to the strengths and interests of my students.
Personal interests:
Experimenting with food, time in the woods, poetry, knitting socks, painting, and long, long novels.
Florencia Lynch
Adjunct Instructor in Spanish
B.A., Universidad Católica de La Plata
M.A., Northern Iowa University
Email: flynch@coe.edu
Office: Hickok Hall 104D
Research and academic interests:
Historical Realism in Spanish literature of all times. Language and society. Migration cultural movements as instruments of cultural change. Work in a target language curriculum tailored for specific industries.
Personal interests:
All kinds of outdoor activities like hiking, paddling, biking and tennis as well as reading, playing piano, and spending time with family and friends.
Laissa M Rodríguez Moreno
Assistant Professor of Spanish
Spanish Program Coordinator
B.A., Universidad Nacional de Colombia
M.A., Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison
Email: lrodriguez@coe.edu
Office: Hickok Hall 203C
Research and academic interests:
I am interested in contemporary Latin American literature and cultural studies. Specifically, my scholarly focus is directed on South America at the intersections between history and cultural productions, with an emphasis on performance studies, and illustrated narratives. I explore how cultural productions challenge political discourses and institutionalized representations of the nation, and they help to rethink ethical and judicial concepts. I am currently working on a monograph exploring the relationship between metaphors of otherness and how they shaped the violence in 20th century internal conflicts in Colombia, Argentina, and Peru. I am also working on the topic of the imagination as a political field by delving into Latin American children's literature.
I have collaborated on projects such as Análisis de la Dramargia Colombiana (Antígona, 2017), Perspectives on Drama and Citizenship Education (Routledge, 2021), 50 Key Latin American and Latinx Theater Artists (Routledge, 2022), and the Boletín Cultural y Bibliográfico del Banco de la República (Colombia). I am also a contributor to the “Museo de las Artes” webpage (Colombia).
Personal interests:
I enjoy multidisciplinary work with the Arts -- drawing, dancing, performances, and theater productions. Good conversations, Bogotá, my family, and friends.
Esperanza Muñoz-Perez
Adjunct Instructor of Spanish
Email: emunozperez@coe.edu
Office: Hickok Hall 104D
Research and academic interests:
Esperanza Muñoz Pérez, a native of Spain, teaches all levels of the Spanish language and has been an educator for 20 years. All aspects of language and its intricacies intrigue her, whether related to her experience as a language professor or as an interpreter and translator. She arrived in Iowa in 1994 after living previously in Scotland and in the Pacific. Esperanza's passion for history, culture, and language was richly rewarded while working with 18th-century Spanish documents for the Micronesian Research Center at the University of Guam. Her love for Romance languages led her to study Latin, Portuguese, Italian, French language and Literature, as well as completing PhD courses in Medieval Spanish Literature. A strong interest in languages and cultures has always been and will continue to be an important part of her academic and personal life.
Niall A. Peach
Assistant Professor of Spanish
B.A. Durham University, UK
M.A., Ph.D., Purdue University
Email: npeach@coe.edu
Office: Hickok Hall 203D
Research and academic interests:
I am a Spanish and Latin American literary and cultural studies scholar, focusing on the relationship between race (Blackness and Indigeneity), environment, and nationhood in imperial and neo-imperial contexts in the 19th and 20th century, working mainly with Mexico and Cuba with a look towards Spain. With my research in the Environmental Humanities, I engage questions of sovereignty, critical agency, and belonging through plant and watery relations with the human.
My book, Alexander von Humboldt: Perceiving the World (Purdue UP 2023), for which I am co-editor, looks at how Humboldt’s work challenged aesthetic and scientific ideas, from outer space to volcanoes. My chapter addresses Humboldt’s involvement with re-rivering New Spain and, ultimately, engages how water mediated imperial power and knowledge in the decade before independence. I am currently finishing my monograph - The Garden State and the Environmental Politics of Race, Belonging, and Civilization in 19th century Latin America. I am also working on a project on hydropower and Indigenous hydrocommons in late 19th century Mexico.
Guadalupe Zavaleta Vega
Adjunct Instructor of Spanish
B.A., Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana
M.F.A., University of Iowa
Email: gzavaletavega@coe.edu
Office: EBY 301A
Research and academic interests:
Strangeness in contemporary Latin American literature. I am interested in forms in literature that make the reader uncomfortable. I also focus on memory and violence in fiction. In the past, I have worked with the research scholarship Santander-UCSJ (2018) for my thesis project L. Iluminada’s erotic ritual: analysis of Lumpérica by Diamela Eltit.
Personal interests:
I am a short fiction writer and poet. Most of my writing is inspired by my hometown Oaxaca, specifically coffee production processes in Pluma Hidalgo.
Megumi Potter
Adjunct Instructor in Japanese
Joshua Langseth
Adjunct Instructor in Humanities
B.A., Concordia College
M.A., Ph.D., University of Iowa
Email: jlangseth@coe.edu
Edmund Burke
Professor of Humanities, Emeritus
A.B., Holy Cross
M.A., Ph.D., Tufts University
Jeannine Hammond
Joanne M. Pochobradsky Professor of French, Emerita
B.A., Carleton College
M.A., University of Chicago
Ph.D., Indiana University
Nicholas Mason-Browne
Joanne M. Pochobradsky Associate Professor of Spanish
B.A., University of British Columbia
M.A., Ph.D., University of Iowa