Professor of Spanish
B.A., Central College; M.A., Middlebury College; Ph.D., Minnesota
Office Hours:
Monday - 1:00 - 3:00
Wednesday, Friday - 10:30 - 11:30
Old Main 24
barnesg@stolaf.edu
(507) 786-3380
Gwendolyn Barnes-Karol (Ph.D., Minnesota) is a specialist in Spanish
Literature whose research interests highlight the interaction between oral
and written/print culture, the development of the Spanish literary canon,
and the reception of literature by both native- and non-native-speakers of
Spanish. As an undergraduate, she studied at the Universities of Santiago
de Compostela, Granada, and Complutense (Madrid) in Spain; as an MA
student, she completed her degree through Middlebury College’s Graduate
School of Spanish at Madrid’s Instituto Internacional. Barnes-Karol
teaches Spanish language as well as the literature and culture of Spain;
her recent major-level courses have focused on religious minorities
throughout Spanish history (Jews, Muslims, and Protestants), the Spanish
Civil War, and post-Franco Spain. She has taught St. Olaf interims abroad
in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, and Spain in addition to graduate courses
for U.S. high school teachers of Spanish sponsored by the University of
Minnesota, Spain’s Ministry of Culture, and the Fundación Ortega and
Gasset. Barnes-Karol’s work in the use of authentic cultural materials
in the classroom and the development of foreign language across the
curriculum programs is nationally recognized. In 1997, she was awarded the
Ricardo A. Narváez Award for excellence in the teaching of teaching of
Spanish from the Minnesota chapter of the American Association of Teachers
of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP). She served as chair of the Department
of Romance Languages from 2002-2008.
