Years at Knox: 2000 to present.

Education
Ph.D., 2001, University of Illinois.
M.A., 1995, University of Illinois.
B.A., 1993, University of Illinois.

Current Research Interests
"My research combines my love for literature as well as my engagement in feminist theory. My work has focused on issues of the body, specifically the female body.  I am particularly intrigued with the way 19th century medical discourse portrays illness as a natural state in women. My work on 19th century Spain has focused on hysteria, anorexia, and tuberculosis. Thorough analysis of medical journals, hygiene manuals, midwifery journals, advertisements for medicine, and illustrations in fashion magazines have complemented my understanding of women's writing and how their portrayals of sick women work against the overall cultural understandings of women's bodies by focusing on the social causes rather than the biological sources of women's illness."

Teaching Interests
Spanish language, conversation and composition, hispanic literatures, spanish literature -19th and 20th century, gender and women's studies, spanish youth today through film and music

Recent Scholarly Achievements
Publications
"Another Look at Nucha's Hysteria: Pardo Bazán's Response to the Medical Field of the Late Nineteenth-Century Spain." Letras femeninas, Spring 2004.

"Carmen de Burgos 'La mujer fria': A Response de Necrophilic Aesthetics in Decadentist Spain." Disciplines on the Line. Edited by Thomas Lathrop. Juan de la Cuesta—Hispanic Monographs.

Translation. "Anarchists in Libraries: Anecdotes." Progressive Librarian: A Journal for Critical Studies 16: 1-6, 1999.

Presentations
"Family Systems Theory and the Films of Icíar Bolláin."

"Advertising Amenorrhea: The Medical Politics of Abortion and Anorexia in fin-de-siglo Spain." Institute for Feminist Theory and Research, University of Liverpool, 2003.

"The New Family in Spanish Cinema of the 1990s." Twentieth Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, Kentucky, 2002.

"How to Be a Clean Woman: The Discourse of Hygiene in 19th Century Spain." Knox College, Gender and Women's Studies Colloquium, 2000.

"Necrophilia in Literature and Culture in Early 20th Century Spain." Feminismos Symposium of Hispanism. University of Illinois-Urbana, 1999.

Recognitions
Awards
Phillip Green Wright Teaching Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2006.

Grants
ACM (Associated Colleges of the Midwest) Costa Rica Grant.

Diversity Committee Grant to attend Latino Film Festival, 2002.

Junior research leave- fall 2002.

Departmental fellowship to work on dissertation, Spring 2000.

Involvement
Teacher, College 4 Kids, "Self-Esteem for girls workshop," June 2007.

Resident Director, Knox College Program in Buenos Aires, 2006-2007.

Volunteer translator and interpreter for Knox Ob-Gyn, Ltd., Galesburg.

Resident Director, Knox College Program in Barcelona, 2004-2005.

Member, Modern Languages Association and Feministas Unidas.

Advisor, Spanish Club.

Contact
rragan@knox.edu

What Students Say
 "I have had the privilege of having Robin Ragan not only as a professor but as a director for part of my study abroad. She's the type of professor who will still be thinking about a question you asked in class for days after and follow up with an e-mail expanding on her answer. She's really open and warm with students, inviting them over to her home to talk and eat paella.  Another thing I really appreciate about her is how dedicated she is to her students, always going out of her way to  help them out any way she can. For example helping me search for somewhere to play badminton in Barcelona."
—Emily Quade, Integrated International Studies Major

"Professor Robin Ragan has been instrumental to the work I've accomplished at Knox. She was the director of the Barcelona program while I lived in Spain and served as my honors advisor in my senior year. What makes Robin a great professor is that she is entirely dedicated to helping her students. With my honors project, I had constant questions and concerns. She was always there to answer them, always ready to set up a meeting and help me sort things out. She is always researching and reading, trying to find the best materials for her upcoming classes, trying to find better ways to illustrate her point... She will always pool her resources to give students the maximum amount of information to solve tricky problems or to expand their research. I found her to be always excited and ready to help with my research. Her dedication and assistance throughout my time at Knox was invaluable."
—Emily Richardson, Spanish Major