Eduardo Caro Melendez

Caro Melendez holds a Ph.D. in Spanish (Applied Linguistics and Critical Cultural Studies) from Arizona State University, where he has served as undergraduate and graduate Spanish faculty in the School of International Letters and Cultures and in the School of Applied Sciences and Arts (all levels of Spanish and Spanish for the Professions), as well as English Faculty in the Film and Media Studies program. At ASU, Dr. Caro Melendez has also hold leadership positions, such as supervisor of Graduate Spanish students, coordinator of in-person and hybrid undergraduate Spanish Language-Literature-Culture courses, and course coordinator in the Spanish for the professions program. While in his doctoral studies, he served as chair of Linguistics-Literature-Cultural Studies Graduate Student conferences and received the ASU Graduate Excellence Teaching Award.

Dr. Caro Melendez also holds an MA in Peninsular/Latin American literatures and cultures from the University of Arkansas, where he taught and helped coordinate intermediate and advanced Spanish courses. In addition, he holds an MA in English for Specific Purposes from Universidad del Norte (Colombia), as well as Diploma Courses (diplomados) in English as a second and foreign language-culture from Oxford and Cambridge Universities (England). Likewise, Dr. Caro Melendez holds a BA (licenciatura) in Bilingual (Spanish-English) Education and Foreign Language Pedagogy from Universidad del Atlántico (Colombia). He has done translation and interpretation work in a variety of professional contexts and in the community in Colombia, Mexico, Spain, the United States, England, and Canada.

Dr. Caro Melendez has many years of teaching experience at the undergraduate and graduate levels in Colombia, Mexico, Spain, the United States, and England where he has, too, worked in leadership positions. His teaching and research interests include all levels of Spanish language and culture, Spanish for specific purposes, Second Language Pedagogy, Spanish/Latin American cinema and cultural studies, Latin American/Colombian literature and cinema, translation/interpretation (Spanish-English-Spanish), and digital humanities. He has served as Early Reader and Reader of the Spanish Language-Culture and Spanish Literature-Culture Advanced Placement (AP) programs through the College Board & Educational Testing Services. He has published research articles, critical book and film reviews in (inter)national specialized journals such as Revista de Estudios Colombianos, Chasqui: Revista de Literatura Latinoamericana, Hispanic Issues, Cuadernos de ALDEEU (Spanish Professionals in America), the Rocky Mountain MLA Journal, and encyclopedic entries in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life Through History, Gender and Identity Worldwide and The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Stage Actors and Acting. He is currently working on a book proposal on Language, culture, and society in Colombian Film (2000-2020).

Dr. Caro Melendez has an outstanding record of research presentations in (inter)national conferences and congresses, such as the Rocky Mountain MLA Association, the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), International Association of Colombianists, International Congress of Caribbean Literatures and Cultures, Spanish Professionals in America (ALDEEU), and the International Language for Specific Purposes/CIBER conference. He has been an invited guest speaker in the Humanities Lecture Series at ASU, where he has presented on Latin American Cinema and the Human Condition, the (in)visibility of "otherness" in Contemporary Latin American Cinema and on Corruption, Violence and Human Rights in Venezuela. Similarly, he has been a special guest speaker on "Needs Analysis, Experiential Learning in the Second/Foreign Language-Culture classroom" at the Colombian-American Center in Barranquilla. Moreover, Dr. Caro Melendez has taught and directed Spanish Summer programs abroad in Mexico and Spain. His service to the profession includes being guest editor of Revista de Estudios Colombianos, review editor of Hispania (a journal devoted to the teaching of Spanish and Portuguese), the Rocky Mountain Review and of Letras (Revista de Investigaciones de la Facultad de Letras y Ciencias Humanas de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru). He has, as well, served as General Secretary of the International Association of Colombianists, vice-president, and past president of the Rocky Mountain MLA, where he received the Excellence in Leadership and Service Award.