Rocío Quispe-Agnoli Appointed Interim Co-Chair of RCS Department

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Professor Rocío Quispe-Agnoli has been appointed Interim Co-Chair of the Department of Romance and Classical Studies. The 12-month appointment is effective August 16, 2017, through August 15, 2018.

As Interim Co-Chair of the Department of RCS, Quispe-Agnoli will work with Co-Chair Doug Noverr serving as the chief representatives of the Department. Together, they are responsible for educational, research, and service    programs; budgetary and personnel matters; and physical facilities.

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Professor Rocío Quispe-Agnoli

Quispe-Agnoli also will serve as Chair of the Executive Planning Committee (EPC) of the School of Language Sciences & Literary and Cultural Studies. This committee will focus on Phase 3 of the planning and implementation for the School. The School will position MSU as a leader in language sciences, literary and cultural studies by fostering collaboration across the languages to compete for more prestigious external funding, develop innovative approaches to language teaching and scholarship, and broaden our knowledge of other cultures and literatures to address the most complex challenges of our interconnected world.

“I am honored to serve my Department and the College of Arts & Letters in these roles. I look forward to working with Doug Noverr in listening to and providing guidance to my colleagues in Romance and Classical Studies and working together with Professor Jason Merrill and all the members of the Executive Planning Committee on this transition,” Quispe-Agnoli said. “Along with our faculty, academic specialists, staff, and students we will intend to identify new approaches to organizing our programs towards gaining national and international visibility while enhancing our leadership within all of our fields.” 

Quispe-Agnoli earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Hispanic Studies from Brown University, an M.A. in Semiotics from the Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, and a B.A. in Hispanic Linguistics from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

She is Professor of Colonial Latin American Studies and a core faculty of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studiesand the Center for Gender Studies in a Global Context. She also is an affiliated faculty member in the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program and served as Director of the Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities from fall 2007 to fall 2010.         

Quispe-Agnoli’s research projects have been supported by fellowships and grants from the Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos de Sevilla (Spain), MSU Humanities and Arts Research Program, MSU Creating Inclusive Excellence Grant, National Endowment for the Humanities, Newberry Library, Lilly Library (Indiana University), Spanish Agency of Iberian American Cooperation, and Spain’s Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.

She has authored two scholarly books on Colonial Indigenous Latin America, one book of short fiction, a collection of essays on women’s voices in the colonial archive, and has been invited editor of three special issues of academic journals on visual and gender studies.

Quispe-Agnoli has been the recipient of multiple awards in teaching, writing, academic leadership, impact on the community, and research. For more information on her activities, visit: : https://rocioquispeagnoli.com/.