2012–2013 Faculty-in-Residence (in alphabetical order):

Luis Figueroa–Martínez, Associate Professor of History

Figueroa–Martínez’s scholarly interests include slavery, post-emancipation, and racial discourses and practices in the Caribbean and Latin America; the representation of history on film (both fiction and documentary); the history of Latinas and Latinos in the USA; and the intersections between urbanism and urban life in the Atlantic World. His is currently writing two books: one that examines race, migration, colonialism and cultural nationalism in the rise of basketball in Puerto Rico; and another one focused on urbanism, suburbanization, and colonialism in San Juan, Puerto Rico since 1930. He currently serves as Treasurer and Website Editor for the Puerto Rican Studies Association (PRSA), the organization that groups scholars, graduate students, public policy experts, community activists and artists whose work focuses, at least partially, on Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans in the United States.

Figueroa–Martínez has also carried out extensive work in documentary film production. He served first as script consultant for “Puerto Rican Passages” (1995), a film that examines the history of Puerto Ricans in Connecticut; worked as co-producer of “Ritmo de Pueblo \ Rhythm of the People” (2001), an exploration of Puerto Rican music culture centered around a music festival organized by Trinity faculty, students and Hartford community activists in February 2000; and has also been the director\producer\editor of two short films focusing on issues of social class, racism, sexism and homophobia at Trinity College (“Umoja House 2003” and “Cinestudio Forum 2006”). He also served as co-producer of a documentary film project on issues of class, poverty, race and politics in Hartford in the 1960s led by former Trinity History Professor Susan Pennybacker.

Figueroa–Martínez is currently conducting pre-production research work for a new documentary film on student life at Trinity College that will be produced in 2013.

Figueroa–Martínez has been a Faculty-in-Residence at Trinity since September 2009, living in the Faculty-in-Residence apartment at Hansen Hall.

Prof. Figueroa–Martí´nez’s Email = Luis.Figueroa _at_ trincoll.edu

 

Richard J. Ring, Head Curator, Watkinson Library

Richard Ring has worked as a professional rare book librarian and curator since 1998. He taught freshman composition as an M.A. candidate (English) at the Ohio State University for two years, before changing his career to librarianship. Concurrently for 20 years he worked in used and rare bookshops, and owned and operated his own shop (“Book by Book”) from 2006-08. In 2007 at Brown he co-created (with professor James Egan) a literature course called “Lives of a Text,” tracing canonical works as they crossed the Atlantic World, 1650-1800. His pedagogical philosophy is to explore the practical outcomes of literature and history in a hands-on environment, using special collections as a laboratory of the humanities.

Prof. Ring lives in the Faculty-in-Residence apartment at Summit Dorm.

Richard Ring’s “The Bibliophile’s Lair” blog

Email = Richard.Ring _at_ trincoll.edu

 

Yipeng Shen, Assistant Professor of Language and Culture Studies and International Studies

Professor Shen thinks a good Chinese teacher should be equipped with enthusiasm and creativity in teaching and learning, passion to help students, cross-cultural awareness and appreciation, and familiarity with modern technologies. Confucius left a famous motto: “Conduct teaching according to the talent of students.” Professor Shen always tries to live up to that principle. He aspires to awaken in Trinity students a passion for learning, research, and analysis through pedagogical innovations. He has hitherto studied and taught in China, Singapore, and the United States. This educational and working background has prepared him with the awareness of and appreciation for cultural diversity to embrace all kinds of students.

Prof. Shen lives in a Faculty-in-Residence apartment at Allen Place.

Email = Yipeng.Shen _at_ trincoll.edu

 

Christopher van Ginhoven Rey, Assistant Professor of Language and Culture Studies

Christopher van Ginhoven Rey is Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies in the Department of Language and Culture Studies. His research on the cultures of late medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque Spain and Latin America explores how individuals and institutions positioned themselves in relation to the shifts in theology, politics, and aesthetics that gave rise to the modern world. He is currently completing a book-length study of the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and of their role in the creation of the institutional imaginary of the Jesuit order, and has started to work on a book on shipwreck that investigates the contributions of early modern Spanish historiography, theology, and literature to the definitions of modernity proposed by Walter Benjamin, Carl Schmitt, and Hans Blumenberg.

Before coming to Trinity, Professor van Ginhoven Rey taught medieval and Renaissance studies at New York University, and Spanish language and literature courses at Dartmouth College, where he also worked as an editorial assistant for the Revista de crítica literaria latinoamericana. He has written essays and delivered talks on Saint Teresa of Avila, Luis de Góngora, Miguel de Cervantes, and Garcilaso Inca de la Vega. He also has a strong interest in contemporary Latin American literature, and has translated works by Mario Bellatin, Fabio Morabito, Alan Pauls, and José Agustín. In 2005, his novel La evasión was published by Editorial Matalamanga in Lima.

Prof. van Ginhoven Rey lives in the Faculty-in-Residence apartment at Stowe Hall.

Email = Christopher.vanGinhovenRey _at_ trincoll.edu

 

Jui-Chien Wang, Lecturer in Language and Culture Studies

Jui-Chien Wang joined the Department of Language and Culture Studies as Visiting Lecturer of Chinese in the fall of 2011.  She holds a Master’s Degree from National Taiwan Normal University and two accredited international certificates in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages. The central goal in her language courses is to cultivate a lifelong passion for language learning. She is particularly interested in language pedagogy and creative curriculum development that make the language learning process both enjoyable and effective. As a foreign instructor, she would love to share her cross-culture experiences with students and strive to give students the keys to unlocking the vast storehouse of Chinese culture.

Prof. Wang lives in the Faculty-in-Residence apartment at Jackson Hall.

Email =JuiChien.Wang@trincoll.edu

 

For detailed information about Trinity’s Faculty-in-Residence Program, please read the “About the FIR Program” page on this website.