Amarilis Ortiz

Principal Senior Lecturer

After earning her B.A. and M.A. from the Department of Romance Languages at State University of New York at Binghamton, Amarilis Ortiz joined the Vanderbilt community to earn a Ph.D in Spanish Literature. Following the completion of her Ph.D., Ortiz taught at Nashville State Community College where she initiated the development of a new curriculum and a study abroad program. Returning to Vanderbilt in 2007, she teaches courses in Spanish language, composition, and conversation in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Her areas of interest are twentieth century Latin American narrative, Spanish Golden Age poetry, and Dominican poetry. She has contributed to the editing and publishing of the novel La otra cara del amor, by celebrated Dominican poet Efrain Ortiz O., whose forthcoming publication of short stories she is currently editing. During the summers, you can find her sitting under the mango trees in her native Dominican Republic, conversing with her father about poetry, tango music and the growing number of stray cats who find refuge in his land.