Dr. Catherine Rovira is a product of the City University of New York where she received her BA, MA, and Ph.D. As a Professor of Spanish and Spanish Literature at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, she has developed and taught Spanish courses specifically geared to law enforcement, investigation, translation and court interpretation. These courses are heavily infused with multicultural issues and consideration for Spanish in the Latin American Diaspora. She has lectured on and written articles about the teaching of foreign languages for special purposes, and the methodology of second language acquisition. As a foreign language educator, she has received federal and state grants to teach foreign language methodology to teachers of Spanish and French in grades 6-12.

In the field of literature, she has written numerous articles on literary criticism of Spanish and Spanish American authors. Her interest in the social-political role of literature has provided her with a wide array of literary subjects for analysis culminating in her book on the social-political poetry of Manuel Gonzalez Prada. Her Dominican roots are expressed in her many articles on Dominican literature, especially literature written by women and works that relate to women’s issues. She has recently received grants to study the work of women’s organizations that provide strategies for empowerment in Peru.

Dr. Rovira is Chairperson of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures of John Jay College, CUNY, a post she has held for more than ten years. She has also served as Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs. At present she is teaching Spanish for Investigators and Intensive Spanish for Heritage Speakers.