Jessica Boll, Carroll University faculty

Dr. Jessica Boll

Associate Professor of Spanish Get Contact Info

TEACHES IN THE FOLLOWING PROGRAM(S)

Spanish

Biography

Dr. Boll’s personal and professional experiences have afforded her the opportunity to live, work, and do research in several countries and continents. In addition to studying abroad in Spain as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware, she spent an academic year teaching English in China and later studied Turkish language and culture at two different universities in Istanbul as part of her doctoral studies. Dr. Boll continues to travel frequently for both work and pleasure, having presented at conferences in Spain, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Portugal, Hungary, Cyprus, and Germany in recent years. She has also developed programs and traveled with Carroll students to Spain, Argentina, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, and Cuba.

Education

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ph.D. in Golden Age Spanish Literature; minor concentration: Cultural Geography, 2010
  • Purdue University, M.A. in Spanish Literature, 2004
  • University of Delaware, Honors B.A. in Foreign Languages & Literatures, Concentration in Spanish Studies and Honors B.A. in Biological Sciences, 2001​

Foreign Study

  • Boğaziçi University in Instanbul, Turkey, Summer 2008 
  • Fatih University in Istanbul, Turkey, Summer 2006
  • University of Granada in Granada, Spain, Fall 2000
  • University of Granada in Granada, Spain, Summer 1999

Areas of Specialization

Contemporary Christian-Muslim dynamics in Spain, the halal foodway in Spain, Early Modern Spanish-Ottoman relations, Early Modern Spanish literature

Scholarly and Professional Achievements

Publications

“Culinary conflict or convivencia? Halal food practices, perceptions, and promotion in Spain” (Digestible Governance: Gastrocracy and Spanish Foodways, Vanderbilt UP, Fall 2024)
 
“Captive of Constantinople: Home, Hasret and Hüzün in Cautiverio y trabajos de Diego Galán” (Visions of Constantinople, Peter Lang, Fall 2024)
 
“Three’s a Crowd? Córdoba’s Mosque-Cathedral As Representative Third Place” (Unframing and Reframing Mediterranean Spaces and Identities, Brill Series: Cultural Interactions in the Mediterranean, Volume 7, pp. 25-38, Fall 2023)
 
“Selling Spain: Tourism, Tensions, and Islam in Iberia” (Journal of Intercultural Communication, Issue 53, pp. 42-55, July 2020)
 
“Challenging Confinement: The Redress of Captivity in La gran sultana” (The Sixteenth Century Journal, Volume 50, Issue 4, pp. 1001-1016, Winter 2019)
 
“Uncommon Denominators? Christian-Muslim Relations and the Legacy of al-Andalus in Contemporary Spain” (On Migrants Routes in the Mediterranean. Political and Juridical Strategies, pp. 97-112, Spring 2018)
 
“Irony made manifest: cultural contention and Córdoba’s Mosque-Cathedral” (Journal of Cultural Geography, Volume 34, Issue 3, pp. 275-302, Winter 2017)                                                                                                                                                                               
“Imagining Istanbul: Sentiment and Subversion in La gran sultana” (eHumanista: Journal of Iberian Studies, Volume: Cervantes 2, pp. 130-145, Fall 2013)
 
“A Tale of a City: Travelling Images of Urban Space in Early Modern Spain and the Ottoman Empire” (Travelling Concepts & the Metaphor of Travelling in Literary and Cultural Studies, pp. 193-207, Spring 2012)
 
 “Violating the Harem: Manipulation of Spatial Meaning in Cervantes’ La gran sultana” (The International Journal of the Humanities, Volume 9, Issue 5, pp. 137-148, Fall 2011)
 
“The Experience of Enemy Space: Istanbul through the Eyes of the Spanish Other” (The International Journal of the Humanities, Volume 6, Issue 6, pp. 53-58, Fall 2008)                                 
 
“Istanbul: East, West and Everything In-Between” (High End Magazine, featured travel article, November 2008, pp. 126-134, Fall 2008)

 
Conferences Presentations

Mediterranean Studies Symposium, “(Un)savory Spain: Triumphs and Tensions in Spanish Gastronomy,” Palermo, Sicily, June 2024 
 
Mediterranean Studies Symposium, “Fare Game: Tastes, Transitions, and Tensions in El Próximo Oriente,” Dubrovnik, Croatia, June 2023 
 
Congress of the Mediterranean Studies Association, “Food Fight: Past and Present Contention Surrounding Halal Fare in Spain,” Lisbon, Portugal, May 2022
 
Mediterranean Studies Symposium, “Three’s a Crowd? Córdoba’s Mosque-Cathedral as Representative Third Place,” Ortigia, Italy, July 2021
 
Meeting Points: Imagination and Spaces for Social Change, “The Third Dimension: Córdoba’s Mosque-Cathedral as Exemplary Third Space,” University of Saint Paul, Ottawa, Canada, August 2019
 
Communication Across Cultures: Challenges and Prospects in the Global Context, “Selling Spain: Cultural Considerations in Spanish Tourism,” Chania, Greece, September 2018
 
Cultures, Hopes and Conflicts: The Mediterranean between Land and Sea, “Uncommon denominators? Christian-Muslim Relations in Contemporary Spain,” Salerno, Italy, September 2017
 
Don Quijote and the Mediterranean, “From Enchanted Inn to Besieged Castle: Quixotic Influence in Pamuk’s The White Castle,” University of Texas-Austin, October 2015   
 
Attending to Early Modern Women, “Commanding Concubines: Historic and Literary Women of Imperial Influence,” Milwaukee, WI, June 2015
 
CIEPO-21: 21st Symposium of the Comite International des Etudes Pre-ottomanes et Ottomanes, “Istanbul in Iberia: Impressions and Implications in Early Modern Spain,” Budapest, Hungary, October 2014
 
Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting, “Istanbul as Embodiment of Geographic Good,” New Orleans, LA, October 2013
 
Eastern Resonances I: Ottoman Empire and Persia – 16th-18th c., “Istanbul Re-accentuated: Ottoman Impressions in Early Modern Europe,” Montpellier, France, May 2013
 
Shared Spaces and their Dissolution: Practices of Coexistence in Cyprus & Elsewhere, “Altered Alterity: The Shared Spaces of Early Modern Istanbul and the Hagia Sophia,” Nicosia, Cyprus, October 2011
 
9th International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities, “Violating the Harem: Manipulation of Spatial Meaning in Cervantes’ La gran sultana,” Granada, Spain, June 2011
 
Hermes Consortium for Literary & Cultural Studies, “A Tale of Two Cities: The Image of Urban Space in Early Modern Spain and the Ottoman Empire,” University of Giessen, Germany, June 2010 
 
Middle Eastern History & Theory Conference, “Narrating the City: Istanbul as Embodiment of Geographic Good in Viaje de Turquía,” University of Chicago, May 2010
 
17th Colloquium on Hispanic & Luso-Brazilian Lit. & Linguistics, “Life in Other Space: Istanbul in the Spanish Literary Imagination,” University of Texas-Austin, Fall 2008                            
 
6th International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities, “The Experience of Enemy Space: Istanbul through the Eyes of the Spanish Other,” Istanbul, Turkey, July 2008

                                   
Invited Presentations

“Contemporary Religious Site Disputes: Understanding How Religions Interact Within the Same Walls” (panel speaker), American University, November 2020
 
“Islamic Spain, Past and Present” (sole presenter), Marquette University, October 2020
 
“Spaces of Contention and Confluence: The Contradictions of Córdoba’s Mosque-Cathedral” (keynote speaker, Carroll University Center for the Humanities Symposium: Space and Place in City and Suburb), Carroll University, April 2019
    
“Texts and the City: Impressions of Istanbul in Early Modern Spain” (invited speaker), Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, March 2012

Service to Carroll University and Profession

Institutional Service

  • Academic Quality Committee, September 2022-present
  • Associate Director of the Honors Center, Carroll Univ., July 2015-present
  • Director of the SALUD Program, Carroll Univ., March 2015-present
  • Honors Center Committee, September 2016-June 2022
  • Admissions Committee, Carroll Univ., Sept. 2014-May 2016
  • Faculty/Staff Concerns Committee, September 2013-May 2014

Professional Service

  • Book & Media Editor: Interdisciplinary Studies on the Mediterranean, Summer 2024-present
  • Book Reviewer: Vernon Press, Fall 2024
  • Reviewing Editor: Journal of Intercultural Communication, Fall 2019-December 2021
  • Manuscript Reviewer: Amherst College Press, Summer 2021
  • Issue Editor: Hispanet Journal, Fall 2012
  • Associate Editor: The International Journal of the Humanities, Volume 6, Issue 6 & Volume 9, Issue 5, Summer 2008, Summer 2011

Professional Associations

  • Mediterranean Studies Association, January 2022-present
  • Council for European Studies, January 2020-January 2021
  • Modern Language Association, January 2009-December 2017
  • Cervantes Society of America, January 2016-December 2016
  • Middle East Studies Association, February 2013-December 2013

Community Outreach

  • Waukesha Hispanic Collaborative Network (WHCN), Waukesha, WI, Fall 2013-present
  • WHCN Family Empowerment Action Team (FEAT), Waukesha, WI, Fall 2013-present

Honors and Awards

  • Carroll University Ethos Award for Respect, Fall 2018

  • Carroll University Norman and Louise Allhiser Award for Teaching Excellence, Spring 2017

Grant Involvement

  • HRSA Primary Training and Enhancement Grant, Carroll Univ., June 2016-present
  • UISFL (Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language) Grant, Carroll Univ., July 2010-June 2012
  • FLAS (Foreign Language and Area Studies) Grant, for Intermediate Turkish study at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey, UW-Madison, Summer 2008

What is your teaching style?

Sharing anecdotes and relating my personal language adventures has proven to be an effective way to create a comfortable learning environment and a means to convince students that they can become fluent in a language with practice and determination. Having learned Spanish in the classroom and having spent time in recent years studying Turkish and Chinese, I can relate well to the anxieties that accompany mastering a new language. By explicitly encouraging students to make mistakes, doing introductory activities at the beginning of the semester to acquaint students with one another, and building trust through small group work, learning is facilitated and students can have more fun with the language.

Why do you do what you do?

My interest in Spanish developed immediately upon my initial exposure to the language in high school and intensified with the courses that I took and the study abroad programs that I participated in at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. The time that I have spent living, teaching and researching abroad in the years since has served to solidify my love of languages and cultures, and I very much enjoy the ability to share these passions with my students.

How do you make learning engaging?

I incorporate a variety of activities to support and make comfortable all types of language-learners. I also continually inform students of (and encourage them to explore!) the diverse opportunities available at/around Carroll to use Spanish outside of the classroom. If students are able to bridge what they are learning in the classroom with applications in the “real” world, learning is enhanced and students emerge with much greater language skills and cultural awareness alike.

What should students know about you?

I love to travel, explore new cultures and learn new languages, and it’s my pleasure to help college students do the same!
pano of main campus