Rate My Professor Elizabeth Rousselle

Elizabeth Smith Rousselle is Head and Professor of Spanish in the Department of Languages at Xavier University of Louisiana, where she holds the Mellon Foundation Endowed Professorship. She earned a B.A. in French and psychology from Smith College, an M.A. in French Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and both an M.A. and Ph.D. in Spanish literature from Tulane University. Over her long tenure at Xavier University of Louisiana, exceeding twenty-five years, she teaches Spanish language and literature at all levels, from elementary to advanced courses. She co-advises the Foreign Language Club and the Foreign Language Honor Society, Phi Sigma Iota, fostering student engagement in language studies. Rousselle has held prominent leadership positions, including president of the Faculty Association and Faculty-in-Residence at the Center for the Advancement of Teaching. Additionally, she directs the Medical Spanish Certificate Program, which equips students and professionals with specialized language skills for medical contexts.

Her research specialization lies in Spanish literature by and about people of African descent, and she is currently authoring a book on this topic. Key publications include her monograph Gender and Modernity in Spanish Literature: 1789-1920 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), which juxtaposes works by male and female Spanish writers to analyze themes of gender and modernity across the period. She co-edited (Con)textos femeninos: Antología de escritoras españolas (Peter Lang, 2020) with Erika Sutherland, a comprehensive anthology comprising poetry, prose, and drama by over 150 women writers of Spain from the twelfth century to the present, accompanied by socio-historic contextual information. Rousselle has also published articles on Spanish, Spanish American, and French literature in journals such as Crítica Hispánica, Hispanófila, PsyArt, and L’Érudit franco-espagnol. Through her scholarship and editorial contributions, she has advanced studies in Hispanic literature and gender perspectives.