Elpedio Laguna-Diaz
Associate Professor
Department of Classical and Modern Language and Literatures
Rutgers University, Newark
175 University Avenue
441 Conklin Hall
Newark, NJ 07102
Email: lagdiaz@andromeda.rutgers.edu
Elpidio Laguna Díaz, Associate Professor of Spanish is creator and director of the Hispanic Civilization & Language Studies Program, at Rutgers-Newark. Born in Rio Piedras, he graduated from the U of Puerto Rico( Rio Piedras) in Philosophy and French. Received his M.A from St. Johns’; University and Ph.D from the Graduate Center, CUNY in Hispanic Studies. From 1992-1998 was chair of the Department of Classical & Modern Languages in Newark.
He has distinguished himself for his dedication to the teaching of Spanish Medieval, Golden Age, and 19th and 20th centuries Spanish literature and creating new programs as well as for his support of student organizations such as the Spanish Club and the Portuguese Clubs. Among the new courses created and seminars taught are “ Ibero American Thought”, “La la imagen de los EEUU en el ensayo hispanoamericano de los siglos XlX y XX”, “ Ortega y Gassett”, “Los místicos españoles,” “ La construcción textual de la realidad histórica.” and “Approaches to Civiliational Studies.”
He was Vice- President of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, founded by Historian Toynbee, and is a member of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, the Real Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua (NY), and of the Historia a Debate group in Santiago, Spain.
Has published El tratamiento del tiempo subjetivo en la obra de Gabriel Miró; Pablo( prosa poética); Sombra azul (poemario), Los retratos y biografías de Ramón Gómez de la Serna ands essays on Pedro Mir, Julia de Burgos, Nominalist and Christain-medieval thought, Americanization and Globalization in journals such as El Cotidiano (Mexico), Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos, Cruz Ansata., Hispamérica,, Revista Chicano-Riqueña, Latin American Women Writers of Today, Vida Hispánica (England), y Asomante.