Rate My Professor José Martinez

José María Martínez, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Literatures and Cultural Studies at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, specializing in Spanish Peninsular and Latin American literature. He earned his Ph.D. in Spanish Philology from the University of Valladolid, Spain, in 1991, with a doctoral dissertation titled Los espacios poéticos de Rubén Darío, directed by Dr. Francisco Javier Blasco Pascual. He also holds an M.A. in Spanish Philology from the same university in 1989 and a Licenciatura, equivalent to a B.A., in 1987. His academic career began as Profesor Ayudante in Latin American and Peninsular Spanish Literature at the University of Valladolid from 1988 to 1990. Since 1991, he has been at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (formerly University of Texas-Pan American), progressing from Lecturer in Spanish (1991-2000) to Assistant Professor (2000-2004), Associate Professor (2004-2010), and full Professor since Fall 2010 in the Department of Modern Languages and Literature.

Martínez's research focuses on fantastic literature in Spain and Latin America, Hispanoamerican Modernism, the works of Rubén Darío and Amado Nervo, literary criticism, cultural theory, and religion in Latin American writers. He has authored books including Amado Nervo y las lectoras del Modernismo (Verbum, 2015), Rubén Darío. Addenda (Cálamo, 2000), and Los espacios poéticos de Rubén Darío (Peter Lang, 1995). Notable edited volumes for Cátedra include Cuentos fantásticos del Romanticismo hispanoamericano (2011), Cuentos by Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera (2006), La amada inmóvil. En voz baja by Amado Nervo (2002), and Cuentos and Azul... by Rubén Darío (1997, 2006; 1995, 2014 editions). His articles have appeared in Revista Iberoamericana, Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana, Hispanic Journal, and Journal of Hispanic Modernism, addressing topics such as secularization in Modernismo, unpublished documents of Rubén Darío, and transatlantic synchronies. Awards include the Outstanding Faculty Award for professional achievement at UTPA in 2003 and 1996, the Provost Scholar Award in 2002, and finalist status for the XI Premio Internacional de Relato Hiperbreve, Círculo Cultural Faroni, in 2003. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Latin American and Spanish literature, including Fantastic Literature, Modernist Short Story, Literary Theory, and Advanced Placement Literature.