Kyra Kietrys

Having studied at a liberal arts college as an undergraduate, I’ve long been drawn to the strong intellectual and interpersonal relationships between faculty and students. When I arrived at Davidson in 2001, I knew I had found a place where I could continue to grow as a scholar, teacher, and community leader. In and beyond the Hispanic Studies department, I am able to share my passion for Spanish language and cultures, with a focus on contemporary Spain and its literature, its history, and its imperative issues of global relevance. Questions around collective memory, literary translation, inclusive pedagogy, and the representation of marginalized groups of people fuel and inspire me.

My teaching encompasses the entire curriculum, from Spanish 101 to the Senior Capstone. My teaching is also interdisciplinary, including courses for Education Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Public Health, and Global Literary Theory. In each of my courses, I empower my students to interpret texts (in the form of literature, children’s literature, graphic novels, popular culture, film, television, non-fiction, and scholarly works) and recognize biases in a way that helps them develop into critical and caring citizens of the global community. I also enjoy directing honors thesis in Hispanic Studies and through the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies.

The impetus for my teaching stems from my scholarship, which focuses on women, gender, memory, and representation in 20th and 21st Spain. I have co-edited two collections of essays, La tradición cultural hispánica en una sociedad global (Universidad de Extremadura, 2020) and Women in the Spanish Novel Today: Reflections of Self in the Works of Three Generations of Writers (McFarland Press, 2009). I have also published a critical edition of three Spanish novellas titled, Género y sexualidad en tres novelas proletarias de la Segunda República Española (Stockcero, 2020). In all my work—whether on pedagogy, translation, or contemporary Spain—I aim to amplify voices across linguistic, cultural, or generational boundaries. I have presented papers in the continental U.S., Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain.

I am committed to creating opportunities for intercultural exchange on campus, in the community, and abroad. In 2002, I established the Davidson Summer Program in Cádiz, Spain and regularly serve as Resident Director, traveling to Spain with students and teaching there. I led the creation of the Davidson Semester Program in Madrid, for which I served as Resident Director during the inaugural semester and continue to serve as Program Director. With a former international student, I co-founded the Summer Teaching Internship in Spain program. Closer to home, I relaunched a newly redesigned Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools partnership between Davidson College and Davidson Elementary School. Now known as Davidson SK8S, this program partners students from Davidson College with Kindergarten to 5th grade classes at Davidson K-8 for weekly in-person Spanish lessons. In the fall, students from SPA 311: Teaching Foreign Languages in the Elementary School participate in the program, sponsored by Davidson’s Center for Civic Engagement. On campus, I have also served as the faculty adviser to OLAS (Organization of Latinx American Students), worked on strategic planning initiatives for globalization, and served as Department Chair.

My extended commitment to Hispanic Studies propels me to engage in professional communities nationally and internationally. In the profession, I've served as a member of the AP Spanish Language and Culture Test Development Committee with the College Board and Educational Testing Service, as treasurer of the Asociación de Estudios de Género y Sexualidad (formerly the Asociación de Literatura y Cultura Femenina Hispánica), and book review editor for Letras Peninsulares. I currently serve as the Vice President of the Asociación Hispánica de Humanidades. My efforts with these professional organizations, my work mentoring students, and the opportunities I create for others are key elements of my commitment to the broader intellectual community here and abroad. I am fortunate to have Hispanic Studies and Davidson as my home base.

Teaching

• SPA 101 Elementary Spanish I
• SPA 102 Elementary Spanish II
• SPA 201 Intermediate Spanish
• SPA 219 IS: Language and Linguistics
• SPA 260 Spanish Conversation & Comp
• SPA 260 Spanish Conversation & Comp: Human Rights
• SPA 270 Intro to Hispanic Literatures / Textual Analysis
• SPA 272 Hispanic Humanities II
• SPA 302 Advanced Grammar
• SPA 303 Advanced Grammar & Comp
• SPA 311 Teaching Spanish in the Elementary School
• SPA 330 Modern Spain
• SPA 331 20th Century Spain
• SPA 332 Comics & Graphic Novels in Spain
• SPA 355 Special Topics: 19th C Spanish Novel
• SPA 356 Special Topics: Revolution & War in Contemporary Spain
• SPA 357 Special Topics: Women in Contemporary Spain
• SPA 359 Special Topics: Adv Grammar, Superior Level
• SPA 361 Civilizations of Spain
• SPA 375 Lt Am Women Writers (sabbatical replacement)
• SPA 390 Literary Landscapes / Paisajes literarios - Davidson in Madrid
• SPA 407 Memory, Women, and Contemporary Spain
• SPA 407 Memory, Sexuality, and Medicine in Contemporary Spain
• SPA 407 Gender and Memory in Television and the Novel
• SPA 490a Senior Seminar I: Memory & Forgetting in the Construction of Identity
• SPA 490b Senior Capstone: Memory & Gender in the Graphic Novel of Contemporary Spain
• SPA 491 Senior Seminar II: Memory & Forgetting in the Construction of Identity
• SPA 498 Sr Honors, Tutorial & Thesis
• SPA 499 Sr Honors, Tutorial & Thesis
• CIS/LIT 432 Theory & Practice of Literary Translation
• HUM 250 W Tradition: The Renaissance to the Eighteenth Century
• HUM 251 W Tradition: The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries