Meet the Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages

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Meet the Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages

Jennifer Rathbun received her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in Contemporary Latin American Literature and is currently an Associate Professor of Spanish and Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages at Ashland University where she teaches Spanish language, literature and culture courses.  Dr. Rathbun is recognized internationally for her creative English translations of poetry written by contemporary Mexican poets, including Alberto Blanco, Juan Armando Rojas Joo, Minerva Margarita Villarreal and Iván Vergara.

Highlights from Dr. Rathbun's publications and grants:

Dr. Rathbun’s most recent book-length poetry translation Sanctuaries   Desert Sea by Juan Armando Rojas Joo is under contract at Arte Poética Press in New York and is slated to be released this fall. The Bitter Oleander Press in New York released Dr. Rathbun’s translation of Tras el rayo/ Afterglow by Alberto Blanco in 2011. Editorial Ultramarina in Seville, Spain published two of her translations in 2013: Era hombre, era mito, era bestía/ Man Myth Beast by Ivan Vergara and Luz/ Light by Juan Armando Rojas Joo. In 2009 Pecan Grove Press published her translation of Río vertebral/Vertebral River also by Rojas Joo. Ceremonial de viento/ Ceremonial of Wind, by Rojas Joo, was printed by La Cuadrilla de la Langosta in Mexico City in 2006. Additionally, Rathbun is coeditor of the anthologies of poetry Sangre mía / Blood of Mine: Poetry of Border Violence, Gender and Identity in Ciudad Juárez (2013) and Canto a una ciudad en el desierto (2004).

Dr. Rathbun has published thirty-two of poetic translations of Mexican authors in prestigious national and international reviews and journals such as The Dirty Goat, Terre Incognita, Prism International, and International Poetry Review. Most recently her translations of Mexican poet Minerva Margarita Villarreal were included the anthology Marca Frontera/Border Mark in March 2014 and 2015 by the San Diego Poetry Annual. The San Diego Poetry Annual is now part of the permanent collection of every college and university library in the San Diego region, as well as the San Diego County Library system, the San Diego City Library and the libraries of individual cities, including Carlsbad, Oceanside and Escondido


Dr. Rathbun’s most recent collaborative work in digital humanites received a $6,000.00 grant from the Great Lakes Colleges Association’s Mellon-funded Digital Scholarship. In 2014 Dr. Rathbun authored and received the Spanish Film Club grant awarded by PRAGDA to host a Spanish language film festival at AU. In 2011 she was invited by the National (Mexican) Councill on Literature and Arts to talk about and read her translation of Alberto Blanco's poetry at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City. In 2007 Dr. Rathbun received the PROTRAD grant from the National (Mexican) Council on Literature and Arts for her English language translation of the monograph Rebel Sountrack: Neozapatista Music by Mexican artist Benjamín Anaya. In 2004 her work on the anthology of poetry dennouncing violence in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico received the PACMYC grant from the National (Mexican) Council on Literature and Arts.



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