Cynthia Schmidt-Cruz, Associate Professor of Spanish, received her Ph.D. in Latin American Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981 and has taught at the University of Delaware since 1993. She teaches courses in Latin American literature and civilization, and Portuguese language and Brazilian culture. From 2003-2006 she served as Director of the Latin American Studies Program, and she has directed study abroad programs in Spain, Argentina, and Brazil. She specializes in contemporary Latin American narrative, in particular the stories of Julio Cortázar and Cristina Peri Rossi; literature of exile; and representations of childhood in Latin American literature. A product of the intersection of her interest in Julio Cortázar, and feminist and psychoanalytic approaches to literature is her book Mothers, Lovers and Others: The Short Stories of Julio Cortázar published 2004 in the SUNY series in Latin American and Iberian Thought and Culture. Her current research deals with the Argentine novela negra or crime novel.

She co-directed “Buenos Aires: A Tale of Two Cities. Mapping the New Reality through Poetry and Photography,” an exhibition of poetry and photography and a speakers forum sponsored by the Latin American Studies Program. This project culminated in the book, Crisis in Buenos Aires: Women Bearing Witness, an edited collection of poetry, photography, and essays about the 2001 crisis in Argentina.