J.P. Spicer-Escalante

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies

J.P. Spicer-Escalante is a Professor of Spanish. His research focuses on how Hispanic American writers, cineastes, and artists respond through their works to the societal transformation brought on by rapid economic and political change.

He has penned Visiones patológicas nacionales (2006) and critical editions of works by Argentine authors Eugenio Cambaceres (2005) and Eduarda Mansilla (2006), and is the editor of Au Naturel: (Re)Reading Hispanic Naturalism (2010). He is also the Founder/Managing Editor of Decimonónica: (2003-Present), a scholarly journal that highlights nineteenth-century Hispanic cultural production.

Professor Spicer-Escalante’s current research is related to the second volume of his work on naturalism, Au Natural, Redux: (Re)Reading Hispanic Naturalism, Once Again. His essays appear in numerous top-level scholarly journals, as well as in special essay collections.

His efforts to promote undergraduate research began when he arrived at USU over twelve years ago, and include the mentoring of hundreds of undergraduate students through their participation in: Decimonónica; the ongoing LPCS Department Student Research Symposium (which he founded in 2005); the Posters on the Hill/CUR Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research; the USU Student Research Showcase; and state-wide/regional academic conferences. He has also mentored students in the Honors Program, including serving as an Honors thesis director.