Dr. Maria A. Zanetta

Title: Distinguished Professor, Emeritus
Program: Spanish
Dept/Program: Modern Languages
Office: Olin 316
Curriculum Vitae: Download in PDF format

Biography

Dr. María Alejandra Zanetta is a Distinguished Professor of Spanish Literature and Culture at the University of Akron. She earned her Ph.D. in Spanish Literature from the Ohio State University. Prof. Zanetta joined the University of Akron faculty in August 1995.

Dr. Zanetta is the author of La pintura y la prosa de Santiago Rusiñol: un análisis comparativo (Universidad de Valladolid, 1997), and numerous journal articles in such areas as comparative studies between Juan Ramón Jiménez’s paintings and poems, Ramón del Valle Inclán and Santiago Rusiñol, Rosa Chacel and Remedios Varo, Carmen Martín Gaite and Eduardo Arroyo.

Dr. Zanetta's teaching interests include language, Interrelationship between Spanish literature and the visual arts and literary theory. Currently her research focuses on the artistic and literary production of Spanish avant-garde women painters and writers. Her latest book, La otra cara de la vanguardia: estudio comparativo de la obra artística de Maruja Mallo, Ángeles Santos y Remedios Varo comparatively analyses the visual manifestations of these women painters that result from the competing theories of gender and sexuality central to the various ideological struggles of their period.

In 1999 Dr. Zanetta was awarded The Chair’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Early Career.

Dr. Zanetta was the recipient in 2002 of the Buchtel College Early Career Research Award.

In 2005 Dr. Zanetta received the Award for Teaching Excellence from the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education. That same year, she also received the UA Alumni Association and Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost Outstanding Teacher Award as well as the Mentor of the Year Award, CUGSR (conference on Undergraduate and Graduate Student Research).

In 2004 Dr. Zanetta received National Certification from the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) to be an Official Tester of Spanish Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPI).

Dr. Zanetta is also an accomplished painter with several shows to her credit: Virtual Art Gallery

Other interests : Painting and sculpting; see Dr. Zanetta's WEB PAGE