PCAL Modern Languages

Advanced Spanish, Spanish Literature and Culture

Dr. Pertusa's area of specialization is contemporary Peninsular and Latin American Literature. She is co-editor of the book Tortilleras: Latina Lesbians (Temple Press 2003), and author of La salida del armario: Lecturas desde la otra acera (Libros del Pexe 2005), a book on the Hispanic writers Esther Tusquest, Carme Riera, Cristina Peri Rossi and Sylvia Molloy. She is also co-editor of the short stories anthology Un deseo propio. Cuentos de escritoras españolas (Barcelona: Bruguera 2009). Dr. Pertusa edited a collection of crime fiction short stories by Spanish women writers from Spain Fundido en negro (Barcelona: Al revés, 2014). Together with articles on Hispanic women writers, Dr. Pertusa also has published articles on instructional technology, and study abroad. She is the state director of the KIIS Study Abroad Program in Spain. She was the founding editor of the multidisciplinary critical journal Ámbitos Feministas, the past president of Feministas Unidas, and the past Secretary of the Asociación Internacional de Literatura y Cultura Femenina Hispánica. She has recently co-edited Spanish Women Authors of Serial Crime Fiction: Repeat Offenders in the 21st Century (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020).  

Dr. Pertusa was born in Spain. She holds a Licenciatura in Ciencias de la Información from the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, and a Master on Library Science (Documentación) from the Universidad Complutense in Madrid. She completed her M.A. in Hispanic Literature at the Univerity of Arkansas, and her Ph.D. at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She worked for several Spanish newspapers including Marco Real, and the ABC in Spain as a photojournalist, and won many photography contests in Spain.

Dr. Pertusa is the State Site director of the KIIS Study Abroad Semester Program in Spain. This academic program is conducted each Spring between late January and late April. The 13-week program in Segovia, Spain, hosted by the Kentucky Institute for International Studies offers 5 upper-division courses in Spanish, two intermediate Spanish courses, and two Culture and History of Spain courses in English to its participants, an all-expense included homestay with a Spanish family in Segovia, several cultural excursions to Toledo, Salamanca, Ávila, Madrid, and Coca, cultural workshops and guest lectures by local artists, and writers and much more. For more information, you may contact Dr. Inma Pertusa or visit kiis.org. If you are interested in applying, you can do so here for Spring 2022.